ACSOL: Court Stops First Challenge to CA Tiered Registry Law
A judge in Sacramento Superior Court today stopped the first challenge to the Tiered Registry Law. The action was taken during a virtual hearing held before Judge Shama Mesiwala.
The case in question involved a challenge to the assignment of individuals convicted of Penal Code Section 288(c)(1) to Tier 3, the highest tier. The basis of the challenge was the equal protection clause of the state constitution.
“Today’s decision will be appealed,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Until this decision can be overturned, individuals convicted of PC 288(c)(1) will continue to be assigned to Tier 3 and must register for life.”
According to the court’s decision, individual convicted of PC 288(c)(1) are not similarly situated to individuals convicted of PC 288(a) although both offenses involve identical conduct. Under the current language of the Tiered Registry Law, individuals convicted of PC 288(a) that involves a victim under the age of 14 are assigned to Tier 2, however, individuals convicted of the same conduct with a victim who is 15 or 16 are assigned to the highest tier (tier 3). Because these individuals are not similarly situated, the equal protection does not apply, according to that decision.
The court’s decision also focused upon the requirement of a 10-year age gap for those convicted of PC 288(c). In its decision, the court ignored the fact that two additional offenses requiring the same 10-year age gap (PC 289(i) and PC 286(c)(1) are assigned to Tier 1 and Tier 2, respectively.
“It is possible that today’s decision is based in part upon the fact that this is the first challenge to the Tiered Registry Law,” stated Bellucci. “If an appellate court agrees with this challenge, lower courts will follow that precedent.”
Law Office of Janice M. Bellucci
Politics put into place these laws that are so questionable and politics allows injustice to rein supreme in each and every life situation. We cannot avoid politics no matter how hard we try.
Politics are everywhere and cannot be avoided. Schools, The military, Social security, and many others. Every day American life is full of politics.
Might I add, those running the show are also more “Full” of it than the politics themselves. Politics runs deeper than just politicians. Heck if you have a Home owners association where you live, that is even also political. Telling the home owners they cannot do anything to their homes without the board voting on it.
When my parents lived in Florida a person was fined$200 a day for having a storm door. Seriously a storm door on the front door after paying $300k plus for a home you have some azzhats telling you it’s not allowed. Thank God they didn’t have abstract art in the front yard.
Confused if this is a retroactive application? We give a push and the courts chop our legs off. These “Non-Punitive” rulings sure sting like Hell for something that is more than a spanking.
Some middle Eastern countries cut your hand off for stealing. Have we become that brazen here? Chastise someone forever, well passed their sentences by cutting off our right to freely exist?
There’s an old saying about being careful what you wish for that applies to the whole debacle in CA right now.
There were going tobe major issues with advocating for a tiered registry, one of which was the chance that someone was going to be thrown to the wolves. But too few cared to listen.
We should NEVER advocate for a registry. PERIOD.
Completely agree. Tiers are a mistake. There are piles of people who are fine with the Oppression Lists (OLs) just as long as they are not listed on them. They are dangerous harassers who are incapable of simply minding their own business and leaving families alone.
We should never participate in the fantasy that the OLs are useful and that we just need to have the “right” people listed on them. Only complete fools believe the OL fantasy.
This 100%
The entire tier schema was sold on the premise of placating the public while at the same time, giving us synthetic hope.
Derek
Amen! Preach it brother.
I know Monopoly has a “Get out of Jail” card, wish we could draw a “Get off the registry” card.
I’ve been saying for years that using the registry to prevent sex crime is like using a chainsaw to fix a flat tire. Any amendments or additions to it to make it more “useful” or “efficient” – tier systems included – is just using different gas.
I also noticed the word “fair” is never mentioned in any registry amendment. By design, I’m sure.
Dustin
I am highly offended. I often use a chainsaw to fix a tire. Gets it off the rim real quick like HAHA Of course then I have to buy a new rim and a new chainsaw.
In all seriousness though. For years we have all had valid points. But we have seen time and time again, judges making rulings in our favor, then out of the blue either reversing themselves (Probably after being threatened with ousting) or an appeal court does it for them.
Do you ever remember two little boys fighting? The Mom runs to break it up and hug her “Little baby boy”. The Dad stops her and says “Let them fight it out, do you want your boy to be a wuss”. It might seem a weird analogy but, I think it is what is happening. A judge rules in our favor, then another judge says “What the HELL were you thinking letting them predators get a win?”
Speaking of predators. Ever notice when law enforcement talks about anyone on the registry, it doesn’t matter if you peed on a tree or raped 100 kids (Or adults) you are a scum bag, predator, sick *uck etc etc. The sensationalism is not lost on deaf ears.
They say the public has the right to know about us living next to them. Well I would like to know if a Serial killer lives next to my parents but I do not get to know that.
Let’s see if this ex Florida cop gets put on the registry for his child porn
https://www.aol.com/news/ex-florida-deputy-gets-35-200921648-205131466.html?utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation
CherokeeJack…
The Knuckle-Head got 35 years…so he will be ‘there’ for a while…
As You Know, Flori-DUH has special ‘protected’ units for convicted law enforcement, attorneys, medical doctors, etc. These units are fully segregated from the rest of the prison population; For example, they have one at the SUWANEE Correctional facility; which apparently houses some of the ‘bigger’ names….So He will have room service and canteen service for his duration at the Inn! Also will get daily recreation…the only thing is that the FOOD SUCKS and the CUSTOMER SERVICE REALLY IS BAD!
(Suwannee correctional facility, as a whole, was like living in hell)
Truth
Isn’t it funny that most of Florida’s numerous prisons are in the good ole boy areas of the state? Away from the public where there are small populations if any and 90% of the folks who live in those areas work for the D.O.C. That means if you get beaten to a pulp, your complaints fall on death ears.
When I got locked in solitary and nearly beaten by 7 guards just because of my charges, God answered prayers when the chaplain walked by and asked if I needed anything. When I told him what was happening, I told him to call my parents NOW. He said he was limited in what he could say but I told him to get creative.
An hour later an investigator put me in protective custody and then had me transferred out a few days later. My parents had called in a well being check asking for a “trusted” official to check on me.
I got a miracle when at the exact moment they were coming in to beat me, an “All call” to the yard for a fight call pulled them away. You cannot tell me that wasn’t God in action. I had been praying the entire time they were telling me what they were going to do to me.
Having said that, the entire time I was in, not one inmate laid a hand on me, but those so called officers thought it was their job to “correct” me. Sadly some of the men and women locked in prisons have no one on the outside to make that call and check on them. Many families distant themselves from those sent to prison. I saw many who never got a visit and others whose families came every weekend.
Because of getting transferred, I lost 3 months gain time. I tried to argue that shouldn’t matter but it fell on deaf ears of the D.O.C appeals board.
I use to work in law enforcement and that same “Lie to cover your ass” mentality that I saw as a cop, I saw 100 times over by the prison guards. At least on the streets people with cameras or cells phones can somewhat keep an officer accountable. In the prisons, THEY control the narrative. A guy gets his teeth knocked out by another inmate or guard becomes “He fell on the basketball court”.
In closing, sometimes I wonder how some actually make it to their release date. I just knew someone was going to try and mess me up. And it happened. They post the names of those being released on the board in the dorms.
Two days before I was to go home, someone picked a fight with me. There was not a guard to be found and the other inmates were egging him on. Finally a guard came in and the guy thought I was going to snitch but I said nothing. The two days leading up to my release I do not think I slept at all.
The day my parents came to pick me up, I do not know what came over me but I balled my eyes out. The relief of “Some” freedom was overwhelming, even though I knew I still had a sentence to get through on the outside. I was soon to find out, it was much harder than prison ever was. Probation AND the registry. You can fill in the rest of the story if you lived it.
I have a good friend who was a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the county jail. After five years he resigned. He said he came to the realization that half the people he worked with belonged behind bars.
Capt
Truth my friend, truth. I am not going to say all cops are bad, but when I worked in law enforcement, I saw crap that the guys got away with that would land regular citizens in prison. Seems either all the bullies and the people who got bullied joined forces to become cops.
And 10X worse with prison guards. They would sneak in weed for the inmates who were their snitches. The prison systems are some of the most corrupt organization I can think of. And lately the way we have been deprived of our rights and liberty, I am starting to believe many of the judges are corrupt and on the take as well.
Yes Cherokee, most of the prisons in FLori-Duh are located in the panhandle area, in highly remote areas and are staffed by Guards who are avid deer hunters, mudders, etc…They love chewing tobacco, drinking ‘NATTY LITE’ and assuming the ‘red-neck life’
In my situation, the DOC, removed me from Suwanee C.I. at 230am one morning and transferred me, alone, to another facility…I asked why I was being transferred, One of the guards looked at me and said, “You know too much”, I laughed!
Truth
Wow, you got off easy. When I “Knew too much” I got threatened with a beating, having all my visits canceled and had my locker searched three times in one day. Surprised they didn’t plant something in my locker.
I had a good job too and that got taken away and got busted down to working in the kitchen. I wanted to work on one of the road crews but anyone with a sex offense was not allowed to do those. I was later told by someone on the road crew, “Believe me you do not want to do road crew”. I guess it was pretty rough.
When I got arrested I weighed 170 lbs. Once I was sentenced and sat in jail for 4 months awaiting assignment, I was down to 132 lbs and looked sickly. Once I got to a prison, they bulked me back up to my normal weight in just a few months. Funny though, unwashed potatoes grown at the prison was the main staple. Over my time in prison I must have eaten 20 lbs of sand. No wonder I got kidney stones.
I’m grateful I wasn’t convicted in Florida because of these stories. Thank goodness I was convicted and incarcerated in a state that considered me a human being. Only bad thing was the food sucked and that I gained weight from having prison burritos and ice cream.
A tiered registry might sound good compromise. however what happens when the legislature forces more in tier 3 because they can. Advocating for a tiered registry isn’t a worthy strategy because it implies that registries are okay. A great registry is a non existent one and it’s time to abolish this stain of a law in a “free society.”
What kind of hillbilly Hank runs Florida’s prisons? Sounds like they have the iq of Homer Simpson and enjoy their Duff beer.
If what happen in Florida prisons happened to me in the state of my conviction, my parents would of sued the batcrap out of the state. Just because someone is in prison doesn’t mean you treat them like shit especially if your a guard. If they want to be asses why not work in customer service at the local Walmart.