Lawyer challenges to federal sex registry

11-23-2007 Indiana:

VALPARAISO | Local attorney Bryan Truitt is challenging the constitutionality of a federal sex offender registry law, in part on the grounds it illegally treads on rights reserved for the states.

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, which requires sex offenders to keep their registration current no matter where they live, is invalid under the 10th Amendment because it has not been adopted by most states, including Indiana, Truitt said.

The requirements also have nothing to do with interstate commerce and thus Congress has no power to require the rules be implemented by the states, he said.

Truitt further accused Congress of improperly delegating to the attorney general the power to decide how to apply the law to defendants accused of violating the requirements before they took effect. This is the case with his client, who is accused of violating the registry law before it took effect July 27, 2006.

"These are decisions of Congress," he wrote.

Truitt filed the challenge before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Robert Miller Jr. on behalf Marcus Dixon, who is accused of failing to register as a sex offender when he cut an electronic monitoring bracelet off his ankle and moved from South Carolina to Michigan City during May 2006. He now faces up to 10 years behind bars, as compared to 90 days under South Carolina law and up to one year under the former federal law.

A bench trial is scheduled in the case Dec. 20, which means Miller should rule on the motion to dismiss before that time, Truitt said.

In addition to challenging the overall Constitutionality of the law, Truitt argues the case against his client should be dismissed because Dixon was never made aware of the new registration requirements. The requirements have also never been adopted by either Indiana or South Carolina and it was "therefore impossible for Dixon to have registered." ..more.. by BOB KASARDA
bkasarda@nwitimes.com