Michigan’s pre-2021 SORA is DECLARED to be punishment!
The final Judgment just came out from the Eastern District of Michigan and it’s a good one!
Michigan’s pre-2021 SORA is DECLARED to be punishment!
Ex post facto application of the 2006 and 2011 amendments is DECLARED unconstitutional, the 2011 amendments are DECLARED not severable from the pre-2021 SORA, and the pre-2021 SORA is therefore DECLARED NULL AND VOID as applied to conduct that occurred before March 24, 2021 to members of the ex post facto subclasses (defined as all people who are or will be subject to registration under SORA, who committed their offense or offenses requiring registration prior to April 12, 2011, and who have committed no registrable offense since).
The caveat to this order is, “As this litigation did not address the constitutionality of the new SORA (as defined above), this injunction does not enjoin enforcement of any provision in the new SORA (as defined above).”
That, unquestionably, will be the focus of a new lawsuit, but in the mean time, this order represents a victory for registrants in Michigan, for the ACLU and the attorneys fighting this long battle.
https://www.mied.uscourts.gov/PDFFIles/16-13137DoesFinalJmt.pdf
Amazing! So great!
That is the funny part about the Judge’s Order. In his previous one, he seemed concerned that the final ruling MUST avoid vagueness, as police and registrants had all complained about how hard it was to understand and comply with previous rulings, and with the new SORA. He had a chance here to be explicit, but seems to have left the door open for more years of litigation. His previous Order stated that the new SORA law COULD NOT be applied retroactively. My guess is that he felt that he couldn’t rule explicitly on the new law yet because it hasn’t moved through the appeals process yet.
As in County and state level cases, Couldn’t the Defense Attorney’s simply file for a “Motion For Clarification” And FORCE the Judge to “EXPLAIN IN DETAIL” Everything his “Order of Finding” Is/was ?!?!?!??. I’ve always wondered why I’ve never heard of this “Motion” being brought up ??
. So can Anyone explain ??
Also, Did Michigan have a “PUBLIC” Registry in 2011 ??.
Thanks for any help !!
That is good news, and my prayer is other states will follow suit. We are only human, and most of us learn from our regretted sins in life. God forgives and forgets when we confess, and others should know all of us, and you are not perfect to your standards of how we should live now.
But isn’t the new 2021 SORA even worse than the old version?
And isn’t the new SORA completely retroactive?
So, in other words, isn’t the registry in Michigan alive and well and even worse than ever?
And doesn’t everyone still have to register just like they had to before?
Or does this mean that only people convicted after the 2021 law have to register?
Please help me to understand. What has changed?
(And if all this is true, then the ACLU can sue repeatedly, and the Michigan legislature will repeatedly enact new and worse versions of the same old registry, right? — or am I wrong?)
The 2021 version is not worse than the old version. A lot was stripped out. There is a list in this order.
Can’t see anything stripped out that wasn’t replaced in 2021 SORA. Example: vagueness re vehicles (the vagueness is removed, but you still have to register them).
Only thing stripped out that 2021 SORA did NOT replace was exclusion zones. And maybe strict liability.
Am I wrong?
Jacob, focus on the language of the Court’s Order and not on the 2021 SORA. If the judge found that, for example, the requirement to “report all telephone numbers . . . routinely used
by the individual,” as void for vagueness and a violation of the First Amendment; the “every telephone number used by the individual” contained in the 2021 version will not likely fly in my opinion.
Again, it may take a subsequent suit or threat of a suit for it to change, but we believe it will.
FAC, I think that’s precisely why they changed the language for registration of phone numbers. If you have to register EVERY phone number that you use, and EVERY vehicle that you use, the law is no longer vague. The truly disturbing thing is that Does v Snyder began in 2012, so it took 9 years to get to this so called final ruling. Will challenges to the new Michigan SORA take as long? On a positive note, I did go into a high school gym this past weekend for an event without any fears of being arrested. Before this year, I was resigned to the likelihood that I would never be able to attend a school function again. After reading this final ruling for the umpteenth time, it seems that all it did was affirm the changes already made by the state legislature, and bar any punishment for alleged violations while the case was being finalized. Might have to watch Michigan Supreme Court decisions more closely than ever in the near future to see if the state clarifies the law and retroactive application of it more clearly.
There are some things that are worse in the new Michigan law. Requirements to list ALL phone numbers used, rather than FREQUENTLY used. Requirement to register ALL vehicles used rather than those habitually used. 3 day time limit to report changes, whereas it used to be 3 BUSINESS days. Those are all designed to make it easier to get caught in a violation of the law through an innocent mistake or brief lapse in diligence by the registrant. None of those changes increases public safety in any real way. Still amazing that the judge can completely void the old law but still allow old provisions to remain as part of the new law. Remember, the new law was not a complete rewrite. It was an AMENDMENT to the old law.
On the other hand, the Court did not even opine as to the constitutionality of the 2021 version, because it was not at issue in this case. I know it’s frustrating to have to keep fighting, but if a person’s situation is made worse, absent any change in circumstances, the new stuff will be stricken too and this opinion (as well as the State Supreme Court’s Opinion) will be the precedent.
I have a hard time believing that the State Lawmakers will be naive enough to think that a Judge (Judges, rather) can strike something and they are free to just add it back. Also, the matter of attorney’s fees is going to come up shortly (even the Judge alluded to it) and when the state realizes they will have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more) to go another round, hopefully they will think twice.
Look, I get that until the SCOTUS abolishes the registry in its entirety, we’re collecting crumbs (or in this case, several big slices of the loaf), but we have to focus on the 75% great instead of the 25% not ideal. A Judge ruled the registry (at least the versions he had for consideration) were PUNISHMENT. With that, if it takes a subsequent case on the 2021 version and the judge finding that if 3 Business Days was punitive, certainly 3 calendar days would be even more punitive (just giving an example, not literally), at least we can see where this is going.
We’ve followed this case closely and heard Miriam Aukerman speak at every opportunity. Everything suggests that there’s still some fight ahead, but between the District Court, the 6th Circuit, the SCOTUS denying cert., the Michigan Supreme Court and now the District Court again… there’s a lot of ammunition in the coffer.
And, of course, the ACLU has already expressed the intention of challenging Michigan’s new SORA as well. When I get my personal notification of the meaning of the ruling and my duties under the law, I will certainly let everyone here know the details. Getting rid of the school exclusion zones was a huge victory by itself. And unlike other states, Michigan, with the exception of only a few communities, never banned registrants from using public parks. The school zones were ridiculous. Looks to me that the 2 sides never came to an agreement on how the final ruling should be written, so the judge gave a little to each side. We will see.
Gerald
It was ironic that we all pay taxes for the parks that we cannot use because we are banned . (We meaning any on the registry that have that statue).
I have given up on trying to understand all these rules. Staying here 3 night, registering this and that. It is overwhelming and exhausting. I decided I am not going to live in fear. I do what a normal law abiding citizen is allowed to do and hope I don’t end up being the poster boy for one of these round ups they like to instigate.
I have not yet read the opinion but just from the blog chatter, I can see this is a huge step away from the carte blanche attitudes of legislatures after Smith v. Doe. The Michigan court has fenced in the legislature. This is punishment reconsidered, and punishment is the key to ex post facto and bills of attainder.
Every year in my state sloppy legislation is introduced by a couple of zealots to toughen registration requirements. One of the arguments used to defeat the bills was that new requirements would inevitably lead to expensive legal challenges. The Michigan decision adds credibility to that objection. I’ll read this final judgement carefully.
Veritas.
Big question?
Ok so I know this is NOT our district, but, didn’t FAC say we were just looking for a major court somewhere in the U.S to declare the registry punishment as applied retroactively?
Did you not say something like that could be used in our ex post facto case as precedence?
Sad that a nation like the U.S cannot agree even on legal matters in different parts of the Nation. A case decision in a matter court should be usable in other cases.
If not, then by God it is a start. (Well we have been having starts since 1997) I have much less hair now than I did when I was arrested.
I hope something in Florida changes soon. I’d like to be able to travel without having to report in person my every move after 72hrs etc. Good thing I don’t have a welding job that requires me to move alot. Oh yeah that’s right, that’s why I don’t try for jobs like that. You know? A job that will likely hire someone with a background like mine but nearly impossible to keep that job without fear of being arrested because you move so frequently having to spend hours to go back and forth the sheriff’s offices to say hey F’ers I’m leaving your county and hey F’ers I’m here in your county. I’m sure there is many other jobs that would hire someone with a sex offense background but because the job requires so much travel it’s not logically or legally feasible due to the possibility of being arrested for a 3rd degree felony because you failed to register in 72hrs. Rant over
You have 48 hours to register, not 72 hours.
Oh yeah 48 hrs now lol. Drive my point home even further. Thanks for the reminder on this forgetful mind.
Tim
Once again they moved the time line on us. How many judges have ruled that they cannot impose new rules on people that were under the old rules. Having said that, I have not heard one single person use that in court and win. (At least not in Florida and not reported on this site)
Always seems to be the other states winning more and more registry relief. Meanwhile in Florida, the Illuminati keeps adding more and more requirements that are so hard to comply with that many are opting to go back to jail. Heck if I did not have elderly parents to take care of, I might have given up long ago and said *#%$ IT.
I hated it in prison but the fear of going back due to a registry slip up like not registering my kindergarten I.D badge from 1968, is almost worse. At least in prison you half way knew what to expect. Wake up when the lights come on and eat, Go do some sort of meaningless job or chore. Have lunch, work some more. Have dinner, count time. Get yelled at by the C.O for stealing yet another yellow marker from the Chapel to mark in my Bible. etc etc etc
I feel your frustration. If I had the financial ability and most of my family didn’t live here in Florida. I would have opted to leave Florida long ago.
I was told by the lady SO deputy and the lady SO clerk that in Osceola county you must report within 48 hours BEFORE you plan on traveling anywhere from your home for more than 72 hours or you can be arrested and charged with a felony.
I tried to show them the statute saying you have 48 hours to report AFTER your trip and they said “that would be ridiculous. What good would it be to report where you had been when you had already come home?” “We need to know where you are while you are there”
That was the end of the conversation, as they would not even read the statute I showed them.
I was basically told the same thing by Dixie, Gilchrist, Alachua, Orange, Hillsborough and Pasco county sheriff’s offices. That’s why in my first reply in this blog I said, “spending hours to go back and forth to sheriff’s office to say, Hey F’ers I’m leaving your county and Hey F’ers I’m hear in your county”. Not to give them any ideas but I feel like its basically like being on a GPS monitor except you have to update your waypoints manually by self reporting.
Come to think about it. The registry is just like being on probation. Except the buck is passed off to sheriff’s deputies/Law enforcement. Once off probation, the Sheriff’s deputies or Law enforcement are now the probation officers. Except that it’s less trips to the probation office and less visits to your residence by your probation officer. It’s the same thing as being on probation. It’s less stringent but the samething as being on probation. How being on probation for the rest of your life is not punishment? Is beyond me.
FAC
This is EXACTLY why I never leave the house. I thought it was 72 hours as well. They change things so often without notifying us, plus they add so many this and thats, that they make our lives miserable.
The requirements we have now long long ago surpassed anything I had to do while on probation. Only thing is, on probation I had to pay each month, on the registry I don’t.
I just do not leave the house unless it is for a doctors appointment
Florida changing from 5 days fo 3 days a year made the decision to move easier. If my name isn’t on a bill it shouldn’t be an address even if temporary visited. Basically makes registrants and family become further apart. At least in my new state I can be somewhere 5 days a month without registration; which makes visiting family easier.
Don’t give them any ideas, Cherokee. I believe there are states where registrants are charged fees. Wow, your situation sounds like home confinement. I will say again that I will never set foot in Florida.
Veritas.
I thought there were counties in Florida that charged fees, Indian River and St Lucie being among them.
Also, does anyone have a link to exactly what the registration requirements are when it comes to the internet? It would be much appreciated.
I couldn’t find the exact link to what you want to know about the internet but here is the link to FDLE faqs. I guess depending on your offense or any court orders. You can use the internet and have social media accounts as long as those social media accounts are registered in 48 hrs. However, once the company ie Facebook, snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Plenty of Fish (most dating apps) sees the registry via FDLE reporting / matching system they will disable your account. Florida law doesn’t stop you from having a social media account but if you don’t register that social media account then it’s a 3rd degree felony or possibly a federal charge. If you have specific questions I would just call and ask FDLE at their 800 number in this link.
https://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/sops/faq.jsf
Twitter does not disable the accounts of registrants. In fact, least one registrant has over 10,000 Twitter followers and is open about his past.
People have had their Twitter accounts suspended, but not because they were registrants.
Yeah I can’t really speak on Twitter. I just disabled my own Twitter account once all my social media accounts started being disabled. Facebook was the first to go and almost immediately upon reporting it.
That link didn’t offer any info about internet identifiers. I found a ruling, and the judge seemed to specify registration was only triggered by person to person communication. I mean, communication on here is not person to person so I believe we don’t need to register FAC. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Under that link I was referring to #16. Pertaining to commincation on this FAC blog. As far as I know, as long as the email address you use on here is registered, you are good to go. The email address you use on here is the only link to this type of communication. Therefore or atleast Imo is the only thing that needs to be registered.
I apologize for even bringing this up because I think it’s been discussed for days here. But, is there a place here on the web site that discusses the requirements in exact details and maybe gives examples? I don’t see one. I did read the letters to and from FDLE regarding it but it would be awesome to have something clearer. If anyone can point me to something like that, I’d appreciate it.
Other than that, anyone want to discuss it again/more, LOL? I just briefly scanned FL’s laws and it seems it works like this:
If you are away from your permanent residence and in one place for 72 hours, you have then established a temporary residence there and you now have the legal requirement to report it.
You have 48 hours to report it. So the latest you could report it would be 120 hours from when you got there.
Anyone can just say “right!” or “wrong!” and leave it at that. And/Or I can point to the FL laws that I think support that interpretation.
Wrong.
You have 48 HOURS to report a Permanent, Temporary or Transient Residence.
A Permanent Residence is where you stay 3 or more CONSECUTIVE DAYS in a year.
A Temporary Residence is where you stay 3 or more DAYS IN THE AGGREGATE per year.
A Transient Residence is when you are IN A COUNTY for 3 or more DAYS without registering either a temporary or permanent residence.
A DAY is not defined.
By way of example. If you live at 123 Main Street in Tallahassee Florida and travel to 456 Main Street in Jacksonville where you will stay for 3 consecutive days, 456 Main Street in Jacksonville becomes your new Permanent Residence and you must report it as such within 48 hours at the DHSMV and secure a new drivers license with 456 Main Street, Jacksonville FL on it.
After the 4th day you return home to 123 Main Street in Tallahassee, FL, you have to return, IN PERSON WITHIN 48 HOURS to the DHSMV and secure a new Driver’s License with 123 Main Street, Tallahassee, FL as your address.
You have to register the residence within the FIRST 48 hours you’re there. If you haven’t, then you better be out after Day 3.
Thanks to everyone who has responded. I read FL’s laws some more just now and they are simply disgusting. What a giant pile of feces! What kind of moron thinks all of that nonsense improves public safety? Really, who? It certainly does give a lot of losers jobs though. That’s for sure.
Anyway, I only read and scanned through it for about 30 minutes. If I lived in the state, I’d have to spend hours and read all of the garbage multiple times. I have in the state where I live. However, it does appear that yours (and F.A.C.’s) answers are right and I trust that you know. Frankly, I thought 30 minutes would be plenty of time in order to find out just the single piece of information that I needed. However, the laws are obviously quite convulted and polluted.
At least “temporary residence” is well defined by 775.21(2)(n) as “3 or more days in the aggregate …”. So we know that a “temporary residence” is not established if you stay somewhere for say 1 day or 2.5 days.
Then the only question I had beyond that is if what you said about “within the FIRST 48 hours” is correct or not. I would think not, but please tell me if you know of the law that spells it out or your reasoning.
The reason that I think that might not be correct is say that you stay somewhere for 60 hours. You have not established a temporary residence. So you would definitely not need to report that during the first 48 hours. What if 6 months later you decide to stay there for 24 more hours? You’ve then established a temporary residence and would need to report it (I think within 48 hours of hitting 72 hours).
It makes the most sense to me that it would hinge on when you have established/created a temporary residence. We know that prior to 72 hours, you have not. You have at 72 hours. Once you’ve established it, you need to report it.
I think that is spelled out for “transient residences”, I just don’t see it explicitly for “temporary residences”. For transient residences, if you aren’t somewhere for too long then of course you have not established that as a residence and don’t have to report it. But once you have established it, 775.21(6)(g)2.b says it must be reported “within 48 hours after establishing a transient residence”.
you have not established the residence until you’ve been there 3 or more days, as appropriate.
If you have questions, you can also address them to FDLE.
Thanks to all for the responses. It is crazy that there is a written law that is not known or understood. I guess that is okay because I just need to know that I won’t be establishing any residence or registering. The “48 hours to report” part isn’t going to matter.
It is hilarious to me that the criminal regime has written such lengthy, convoluted nonsense and yet it is still not 100% clear exactly what it is saying. Maybe they should write more? That will fix it. Could you imagine serving any real, paying customer like they serve citizens/taxpayers? I guarantee I could easily find a couple of high school students that could write a better, more complete, very comprehensible law for this nonsense. Maybe the criminal regime can only attract “politically minded” employees?
I’d just like to add that I probably never would talk to FDLE or any other law enforcement about what the Registry forces. I’ve seen decades of proof that those people are simply not capable of operating within the law. Also, as often as not, they will just tell you however they want the laws to work, rather than what the law actually is. I wouldn’t trust them to tell me what time it is. Additionally, NONE of them should ever be giving out such information over the phone anyway. That is guaranteed to cause problems, for all kinds of reasons. It would be much better if they simply had a very good web site and directed all inquires to it. In the off-chance that a person can’t access a web site, law enforcement should read the web site contents directly to the person.
One thing that I find insane about the idiotic Registry laws is that if they only made the laws more fair, clear, and sensible, they could get people to actually follow them. Take me, for example – I will never Register in Floriduh. Never. If they made the process reasonable and in such a way that it didn’t kick off all kinds of BS, perhaps I would. I guess they just don’t care that much about actually getting people Registered. Perhaps they are trying to discourage people from messing with it? I’m certain they try to coerce People Forced to Register (PFR) to never travel. I’m sure of that.
There is no legitimate or sensible reason to require a visiting person to visit the criminal regime at the start of a trip/vacation to Floriduh and also at the end. Everything could be done at the start. No legitimate reason other than to give them busy-work to justify their “jobs”. Additionally, what information is a visiting PFR forced to give them? I would bet that it is more than what is required where I live. I could never be sure I was bringing enough information (e.g. would they want email addresses from a visitor?!!). Additionally, how long would it take it physically sit in a room at their prescribed hours, wait for them and everyone else, and then very likely fill out forms (!!!!!) with a pen!!?? I’m done filling out forms of redundant, idiotic information. They need to get out of the 1990s. Do they actually keep all those papers!?
If they wanted to encourage people to Register, they would do all of it online. There is no reason I should have to fill out any personal information at all. Isn’t it all already in the giant “protect the children” Registries? It is supposed to be. I should be able to go onto a secure website and login to my personal Registration account and set a notification of traveling. That could then automatically kicks off notifications to the local law enforcement criminals and any busybodies that have signed up for “alerts”, lol. I should be able to do that in 10 minutes. Anything less than that is pathetic and big government incompetent. Just what is expected.
FAC likely already knows this but apparently they could likely get their hands on the list of internet identifiers for all people Registered with Floriduh. I say that because of the law “943.0437 Commercial social networking websites”. I’d actually expect that any person could just meet the requirements of that law and then get the full list. Do you personally want the list? Check out the law.
Would the law allow a person to email every email address on the list? The law says what a recipient of the list “may” do with the list, but it does not say that is all they can do or anything they can’t. So just wondering.
At the very least, I think if FAC ever wanted to have a “verified user” feature of this website, they could do it via that list.
Since this is all strict liability (with no mens rea component) then if you got into a car wreck and ended up in the hospital for 9 days you’d be totally screwed, I guess.
Thanks. That all sounds like what I read. I also think 1 day must mean 24 hours. That is the actual definition of 1 day. I know they were trying to define that differently recently but without that, it must be 24 hours.
However, I read the law that if you stay somewhere for 2.5 days you have not established a temporary residence. And thus would not report it. If you stay there for .5 days longer, you have and you have 48 hours to report it. That .5 days could come immediately after the 2.5 days, 6 months later, or whenever (within a year) after the initial 2.5.
FAC…
One Would Interpret 3 Days as 72 Hours,CORRECT?!?!?
Unless, ‘THEY’, the Flori-duh legislature, once again, redefined the aforementioned word, ‘DAY’; then once would need to know…
IS ‘DAY’ DEFINED in STATUTORY LANGUAGE?
Thanks in Advance!
It is not.
Actually it is. I have posted my deep research findings on this Floriduh issue, on this site more than once and have asked them to be added as a reference, to no avail. So here we are again debating the definition of a day, 48 hours, and 72 hours in Floriduh. Do some real research and dig up my previous posts if you can. I find the search function on this site extremely ineffectual.
As for Michigan, it is irrelevant to our struggles in Floriduh. Our politicians, prosecutors, judges, etc., pay NO attention to facts or out-of-state rulings.
Thanks for all these details. This all looks consistent with the laws I read. The part about the drivers license is outrageous. Unacceptable.
I put more of a Reply to everyone in a Reply to Jacob’s comment below.
Does the DMV charge you for each time you need a new drivers license for 3 or more days? This is the most ridiculous guideline. Basically, it appears that SO’s should stay house bound because the ramifications to stay compliant are a huge failure and too complicated.
In Florida it is $25
“You’ll need to provide your: Florida driver license or ID card number. Date of birth. Last 4 digits of your Social Security number (SSN). Payment for the $25 fee. See the “ Fees to Change Your Address in FL”
Fees For Florida Drivers License
New Florida Drivers License (original class E license) – $48
Learners Drivers License – $48
Class E Renewal – $48
Class D Drivers License Renewal – $15
Commercial Drivers License – $75
*Duplicate License for a Lost License – $25
Replacement for Stolen License (if police report is filed) – No Fee
*Replacement for License with Incorrect Information – $25
Will Allen
Hey buddy
I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out the rules. I go do my registration thing 4 times a year. I say hi to the deputy who comes to my door between 1 and 4 times a year (Never did figure that one out).
Other than that, they all can bite me. Not being rebellious, I just give up. There really is no way to comply with all the 100s of traps they set for us.
Example: An officer tells me I cannot be in park, FAC relies and says THAT IS NOT TRUE, like I am being yelled at like a little kid. I really have reached the end of my rope.
As a matter of fact, I am done for a while even commenting on here. I cannot afford my anxiety medication and have been having mood swings. Going to take break.
(Still going to sneak in and read the comments, some of them are better than chocolate chip cookies fresh out the oven)
Catch ya down the road………………..I am out of here amigos
A rulung like this sure would be welcome in Flori-DUH.
To clarify, there isn’t an “old” and “new” sora in Michigan. It was just amended. When Judge Cleland said it cannot be applied retroactively, he is talking about any conduct that would have been a violation prior to the amendments taking place. We are still required to register. While there was one good thing, the abolishing of the school safety zones, it still leaves in place the 2011 amendment that changed many of us from 25 years to lifetime registration. Hopefully that will be the main focus in the next lawsuit.
Eliminating the school safety zones is indeed a huge win for registrants who have children in school, and since I cannot be prosecuted now, I have ALWAYS attended my daughter’s school functions. There were times in the past when she needed to be picked up and my girlfriend couldn’t do it so I went and got her. What was I supposed to do? Make her walk? Screw that.
Everyone also needs to understand that our Judge did NOT declare registries in general to be punishment. He declared OUR registry, as written, to be punishment, and while those amendments that he did declare to be punishment in his final order is not binding outside of the 6th circuit, other States are able to use it in their own courts as advisement only, not case law.
I’m glad that we did get a some scraps tossed to us by his ruling, but the 2011 amendment changing 25 year’s registration to lifetime still needs to be addressed, as it was never brought up in the lawsuit. Why it wasn’t leaves me very confused, but Cleland’s final order leaves the door wide open to eliminate it in future litigation.
Lawmakers must stop moving the goalposts on a dime just because they can. Be nice if the goalposts actually went towards the elimination of restrictions on registrants and the registry in the history books as a disaster.
I’ve seen several posts here wondering where they can get specific information on what Florida’s law requires. That is the biggest problem in Michigan right now. I can look up Michigan’s SORA law online and read the entire thing. However, it has to had amendments added to it several times over the years. The “new” SORA is actually composed of the old law plus amendments earlier this year. I have talked to local law enforcement officials who can’t decipher it and tell you what applies to you. Everything still seems to depend upon the date when your crime was committed. Judge Cleland really should have addressed the constitutionality of the new SORA as well, especially since it is so intertwined with the old law, AND because the new law was drafted and passed in response to the Judge’s own ruling in this case requiring the state to pass a new law. As someone pointed out, this ruling in Michigan seems to open the possibility that a state can dodge ANY adverse ruling by a federal court by simply passing new unconstitutional laws that will need to go through years of appellate review. We saw it recently in Florida when the voters themselves directly restored voting rights to exfelons, only to have the state try to circumvent that law by barring voting if the person had any unpaid fines. Legislators seem determined to continue punishment of people after their sentences have been served in any way that they can come up with.
So with a 2006 conviction, is it time for me to pack up and head for the U.P.?
Or does Michigan have the multi-state carve out that states if you are still on your state of origin registry, you must go on Michigan’s?
This carve-out makes it nearly impossible to leave Floriduh.
JZ
I learned the hard way that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence, or the other side of the U.S. As soon as I got off probation, I sold my house and moved to California. I was at the registration office for 3 hours in San Diego.
The Registration officer went over all the rules and asked me “Are you sure you want to be this far from your family living in Worse conditions than you left?” (Their registry was as bad if not worse at the time than Florida’s) I clearly did not think this through properly and after 3 days of trying to get my rent deposit back, I came home.
What is funny is the way I got my deposit back. I did not inform them I was on the registry because I thought I didn’t have to be on it when I moved to Cali. When they refused to return my deposit, I told them, “OK but you cannot kick me out and keep my deposit once you find out I am a registered sex offender right?” After verifying that, I got a check within an hour LOL
My Point is, if you are trying to get away from this crap in Florida, realize many states make you go by what your state mandates. You might end up moving into a hornets nest. At least I know what to expect here, that is until the Sheriff’s harassment squads do their illegal & immoral “Operation save the World from the freaks” tour.
Yes jz, you do have to register in Michigan when you move here if you were on a registry in another state. In fact, I believe that the law states that you must register in Michigan if you were convicted anywhere else of a crime that would place you on Michigan’s registry. Also keep in mind that many states require you to inform them of your new address when you move out of state.
Thanks CJ & Gerald.
So now I must ask, what’s the point of our out-of-state challenge IF you have to register in the state you’re moving to? Sure it might get you off Floriduh’s, but as long as you are on any state’s registry, you are on the national website.
https://www.nsopw.gov/
The biggest point is that every time a case challenges a registry ANYWHERE, it is a chance to get the true facts out in public about registries and those on them. That registries DON’T make communities safer. That sex offenders DON’T have a high risk of recidivism. That registries DO punish people for years after they have served their sentences.