ALERT: Is a Failure to Register charge a sex offense?

5-5-2012 Colorado:

Life never ceases to amaze me. Something I had heard about some time ago, I now have proof that this is true!

Only in Colorado, to my knowledge today, is a charge of "Failure to Register" considered a sex offense. Right a sex offense, don't believe me, click on the following pic and read the yellow portion.

This is page-11 of Laws Governing Sex Offenders in Colorado (11-2008), a file that describes all sex offenses and offender rules in Colorado.

Think of the ramifications of this, its mind boggling. There has to be someone with a sick sense of humor that pushed this through the legislature. I'm just blown away by this, are you?

If this is also true in other states, I'd love to know which ones. This will mess up recidivism figures BIG TIME!

I Saw a Man Get Arrested For a Sex Crime Because He Made a Scheduling Error

7-17-2014 Texas:

When I agreed to keynote the Reform Sex Offender Laws conference this week in Dallas, Texas, I didn't expect it to hit quite so close to home.

But before I arrived, I got a phone call from a soft-spoken, super-articulate young man, Joshua Gravens, who is a Soros Justice Scholar based in Dallas. His specialty is the injustice of the sex offender registry and the fact that it isn't making kids any safer (see this study and this article). He was also on the public sex offender list until recently and still has restrictions on his movement.* He invited me to come with him to the police department to give notice he had moved. Who could resist?

Josh became a sex offender at age 12. That's when he touched his sister's vagina, twice. His sister told their mom, Josh said it was true (he was too embarrassed at the time to mention that he himself had been raped as a young boy by three local high school kids), and their mom called a counseling service for advice. The counsellor said Josh's mother was required to report his crime to the authorities and the next day, he was arrested.

Maryland officials begin removing some names from sex offender registry after court ruling

8-12-2014 Maryland:

TOWSON, Maryland — Corrections officials say they have started the process of removing more than 800 names from Maryland's Sex Offender Registry.

The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said Tuesday that other sex offenders are also being reviewed for possible removal for crimes that occurred before 1995.

In May, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that retroactively requiring sex offenders to register for crimes committed before the registry was created in 1995 violates Maryland's constitution.

Corrections officials say the criminal histories of those being checked for removal to make sure they have not committed other sex offenses. Officials say victims will be notified before the names are removed from the registry. ..Source.. by The Republic

ICE Released 2,837 Convicted Alien Sex Offenders to Comply With Supreme Court Ruling

9-13-2013 Washington DC:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has released 2,837 convicted criminal alien sex offenders back into American communities in order to comply with a Supreme Court decision authored by Clinton-appointed Justice Stephen Breyer, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The 2,837 sex offenders represented five percent of the 59,347 deportable aliens that have been released from detention under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the GAO report, which was released Thursday.

“There are circumstances in which criminal aliens who have been ordered removed from the United States – including those convicted of a sex offense – cannot be removed,” the report states. “For example, a criminal alien may not be removed because the designated country will not accept the alien’s return.”

The GAO report refers to the 2001 Supreme Court case Zadvydas v. Davis to explain why ICE is required to release foreigners who have been convicted of sex crimes. In its 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the indefinite detention of removable aliens for greater than six months is unconstitutional unless there is “significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.”

Edmond Sex Offender Cites 'Starkey' in Failure to Register Arrest

8-1-2014 Oklahoma:

Edmond police responding to a public intoxication call discovered a transient sex offender living within 2000 feet of a school. Police say Shaun Anthony Head, 38, had failed to register as a sex offender and was staying at an apartment complex near Edmond Memorial High School in violation of sex offender residency requirements.

When an officer asked Head why he had not registered as required, the suspect responded that he no longer had to register as a result of the state Supreme Court's ruling in Starkey v. Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

Unfortunately for Head, although the Starkey decision will allow thousands of convicted sex offenders to come off of the Oklahoma Sex Offender Registry, the decision does not take full effect until the DOC has had time to review a list of more than 10,000 registrants who may be eligible for removal. Since the Supreme Court's order on June 25, 2013, the agency has whittled the list down to just under one thousand registrants remaining.

So what is the Starkey case that will allow some convicted sex offenders to be removed from the state sex offender registry?

Hurley acquitted on two felony charges

8-1-2014 Colorado:

A Jefferson County jury found Gerald Hurley, a convicted sex offender, not guilty of two felony counts for failing to register as a sex offender with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on Friday, July 11.

Hurley’s release from prison last year prompted a community meeting notification after his decision to live in Golden. After his acquittal on Friday, Hurley was released and given five days to register as a sexually violent predator in his established residence.

It is unknown where Hurley will be living at this time but it seems he many be leaving the state once again, according to the Jeffco Sheriff's Office.

Jeffco District Attorney Pete Weir stated that although he is disappointed in the verdict, he respects the jury’s decision. “It’s a very complicated statue,” Weir said. “It can be complicated factually.”

Detective Stacy Galbraith of the Golden Police Department was the state’s sole witness during Hurley’s preliminary hearing back in February. Galbraith testified to the investigation leading to Hurley’s arrest warrant dated Oct. 3, 2013 in which Hurley failed to register as a sex offender with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s department after obtaining a fixed address in unincorporated Jeffco with a Golden mailing address, according to an affidavit. Galbraith was able to confirm Hurley’s alleged established residence after discovering he renewed his driver’s license with the Golden mailing address.