Simon Angel Rivera

1-26-2005 Texas:

In 1992, Simon Angel Rivera was convicted as a juvenile of sexually assaulting a child when he was a 14 years old. On September 15, 2002, Rivera, 24, was arrested in Austin, Texas on charges of failing to register as a sex offender. On December 16, 2002, Rivera pleaded guilty in Travis County Criminal District Court and was sentenced to two years in prison.

After he was released on February 20, 2004, he filed a state petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking to set aside his conviction, contending that his attorney had provided inadequate legal defense.

Rivera argued that his lawyer had advised him to plead guilty based on an incorrect understanding of the facts and law applicable to his case. Rivera claimed that at the time when he was charged with failing to register as a sex offender he was no longer required to do so because his juvenile status at the time of his conviction. The law did not require defendants convicted as juveniles to register after the age of 21.

After a hearing in the trial court, the prosecution agreed that Rivera was correct and recommended the writ be granted, and it was.

On January 26, 2005, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the granting of the writ and vacated Rivera’s conviction. The charges were dismissed by the Travis County District Attorney’s Office on March 11, 2005.

In September 2007, the state of Texas awarded Rivera $40,000 in compensation for his wrongful imprisonment. ..Source.. by Maurice Possley

Darrell Wayne Bivens, J

3-27-2013 Texas:

In 1994, when Darrell Wayne Bivens, Jr. was 16, he was charged with committing an indecent act with a child in Collin County, Texas. He was charged as an adult and after a period of deferred adjudication, was sentenced to two years in prison.

On April 19, 2012, Bivens was arrested in Collin County on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender. He pled guilty on January 10, 2013, and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Not long after, the Collin County District Attorney’s office discovered that because Bivens was under the age of 17 at the time of the original sex offense, his crime was not considered a sexually violent offense and, therefore, his duty to register as a sex offender had expired in 2008. Bivens had been charged with failing to register because he was misclassified as an adult.

On February 13, 2013, about a month after Bivens had pled guilty and had been sentenced, the Collin County District Attorney’s Office went back to court to seek to vacate the guilty plea and dismiss the case. A judge vacated the conviction and the case was sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Bivens was released on bond.

On March 27, 2013, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with the lower court and vacated the conviction. That same day, the prosecution dismissed the case. ..Source.. by Maurice Possley

Glen Nobles

2-27-2015 Texas:

On March 8, 2013, 52-year-old Glen Nobles was accused of failing to register as a sex offender based on a 1989 conviction for attempted sexual assault. On the advice of his defense attorney, Nobles pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 1989, Nobles had been convicted of attempted sexual assault and sentenced to probation. In 1995, he was found to have violated that probation and was sent to prison for four years. He was released but soon sent back to prison on another probation violation. Ultimately, he was released on November 24, 2001.

While in prison after pleading guilty in 2013, Nobles began investigating the sex offender registry laws in Texas and learned that the obligation to register lasts for 10 years and that in view of his history of probation violations and imprisonments, his obligation to register expired in November 2011—15 months before he was accused of failing to register as a sex offender.

In April 2014, Nobles filed a state-court petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking to vacate his guilty plea. The Sabine County District Attorney’s Office investigated and agreed that in March 2013, when was he was charged with failing to register, Nobles was no longer required to do so.

The prosecution joined with Nobles’ defense attorney in requesting that the conviction be vacated. After the trial court recommended the conviction be set aside, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, on January 14, 2015, vacated Nobles’ conviction saying that “the period during which (Nobles) was required to register as a sex-offender expired on November 24, 2011. (Nobles) was no longer required to register as a sex offender after this date.”

On February 27, 2015, a Sabine County Criminal District Judge signed an order presented by the prosecution dismissing the charge. ..Source.. by Maurice Possley

Conviction of man who admitted having child porn thrown out

12-24-2013 New Hampshire:

The state Supreme Judicial Court has overturned the guilty plea, conviction and 2-15 year prison sentence of a man who police said admitted possessing child pornography.

David Latagne agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of attempted possession of child pornography last year and was sentenced to 2-15 years in state prison.

But the plea deal came only after a judge refused to throw out Latagne's admission to police that he possessed child porn and the results of a search of his computer. The agreement allowed him to remain free while he appealed that ruling.

Salem police arrested Lantagne at Canobie Lake Park in July, 2013 on disorderly conduct charges after getting complaints that he was taking pictures of young girls' backsides as they emerged from a water ride.

In a unanimous decision, the justices said since the disorderly conduct charge did not meet the legal standard for that crime, the arrest was "unlawful" and prosecutors could not use statements made when he was questioned while police were holding him on that charge.

The court said Lantagne was arrested after a woman complained to a security guard that Lantagne made her "nervous," and the guard observed Lantagne positioning his cell phone on the side of his leg and aiming at young girls clad in swim suits.

The officer said Lantagne admitted taking the pictures and saying that he had an attraction to young girls, calling it "a problem.