04/04/2011
By CAD
Very interesting decision from the 9th Circuit this morning in Doe v. Harris (PDF) where it asks the California Supreme Court to determine “Whether, under California law, the default rule of contract interpretation is (a) that the law in effect at the time of a plea agreement binds the parties, or (b) that the terms of a plea agreement may be affected by changes in law.” When Mr. Doe (who is proceeding anonymously for reasons that will soon be obvious) pled guilty in 1991 to one count of committing a lewd act upon a minor, California Penal Code Section 290 required that he register with law enforcement, but that his registration records would not be accessible to anyone who wasn’t a peace officer. Since he avoided any jail time and got five felonies dropped, this doubtlessly seemed like a good deal.
….And then “Megan’s Law” and its progeny on the state and federal level, which require states to disclose parts or all of a registered sex offender’s data to the public, were passed. Worse for Mr. Doe and persons in his situation, Megans Law and its progeny are retroactive, sweeping thousands of people who pled guilty to registrable offenses within their nets of disclosure even though their pleas pre-dated the law.
When Mr. Doe sued to block disclosure of his information, the District Court found that since neither the People nor Mr. Doe’s attorneys made any reservation of rights as to future changes to PC 290, the parties must have based the agreement on the law as it existed in 1991 pre-Megan’s law and therefore blocked disclosure. The State appealed, leading to today’s certification question.
If the Ninth Circuit upholds the District Court, it could help thousands of people obtain relief from the retroactive effects of ever-stricter registration laws. Stay tuned!
I sure hope this will pass ! I just wonder how this will affect the rest of the states . I was convicted ( plead Guilty ) in 1990 and oregon did not pass there law till 1994 ! And well they have me on LIFE TIME Registration . And yes every moth or so it seems I have a NEW Better looking law to understand and abide by !
ReplyDeleteThe hole made in the fiber or our Constitution through the middle of the expostfacto clause needs to be mended with carbon fiber fabric.
ReplyDeleteMany people will argue that sex offenders deserve no rights.
ReplyDeleteBut it is important to note that whenever we allow government to take away the rights of those we despise, we give government the same right to abuse us.
The ex-post-facto clause of the Constitution is one of the main things that separates America and her grand experiment from the dictatorships and kingdoms of the world.
If we give up this right in exchange for a promise of safety we will be left with neither.
wow... this would help so much... i did something stupid (no touching, etc. involved, just porn) 17 years ago. When I pled guilty I wasn't supposed to register.. that came during probation. The CA law just changed and my info just got on ML website in 2010. I'm about to lose my job where my conduct has been exemplary because they want me to re-do my background check (this time Sex Offender will show up). I really hope this succeeds because any new files will require registration, wheras if someone never re-offended, that will remove them... Please God Please Jesus and the Angels help us on this one...
ReplyDelete