GA- Lawyer argues sex offender law off target, unconstitutional

6-8-2009 Georgia:

Sexual act need not be committed for someone to be on registry

A Fulton County judge was asked Monday to declare a facet of Georgia’s sex-offender registry law unconstitutional because it makes people who have not committed sex crimes register as sex offenders.

The law applies to sexual predators — and also to anyone convicted of kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor, regardless if a sexual act was involved.

Monday’s challenge was brought on behalf of Jake Rainer, convicted in 2000 in Gwinnett County of a drug robbery.

At that time, Rainer, then 18, and three of his buddies picked up a 17-year-old girl who was going to sell them some marijuana. Instead of buying it, they decided to take it from her so they drove her to a cul de sac, took the pot and left her.

Rainer made “a stupid mistake” but committed no sex act of any kind, his lawyer, Ann Marie Fitz, said Monday.

Rainer pleaded guilty to robbery and false imprisonment and was sentenced to five years in prison followed by five years on probation. As a registered sex offender, he cannot live or work within 1,000 feet of places children congregate, such as parks, schools and swimming pools.

Under state law, Rainer can ask a judge to remove him from the registry 10 years after the completion of his sentence — in 2020, Fitz said.

“It is grossly disproportionate and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment,” she said of Rainer’s sentence.

Joseph Drolet of the state Attorney General’s Office urged Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter to dismiss the challenge. Drolet agreed that some offenders such as Rainer did not commit a sex crime but have to register as sex offenders.

“It does not seem fair,” Drolet said. “I can understand they do not like it. But the law is the law.”

Baxter did not issue an immediate ruling. But the judge indicated he may rule against Rainer’s challenge.

“I have great empathy for your situation,” Baxter told Fitz. “But I’m feeling like my hands are tied here.” Baxter urged Fitz to return to Gwinnett and try to get the false imprisonment conviction stricken from Rainer’s record. ..Source.. byBill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution