CA- Calif. high court hears arguments on Jessica's Law

Supreme Court Briefs For Cases To Be Argued on November 3 & 4, 2009

11-3-2009 California:

The California Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in a case filed by four registered sex offenders who claim they were forced into homelessness by Jessica's Law.

That voter-approved measure bans them from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

The hearing will help justices rule on the residency requirements of Proposition 83, the Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act passed in 2006.

The law mandates all registered sex offenders paroled after November 8, 2006 — when the law took effect — to comply with the 2,000-foot rule or risk having parole revoked and a new prison term.

However, the law does not apply to all of state's registered sex offenders, such as Phillip Garrido, who is accused of the kidnap and rape of Jaycee Lee Dugard. His parole in an earlier rape case predated the law by more than a decade.

The four plaintiffs argue the court should throw out Jessica's Law's residency requirement because it violates their constitutional rights by making the parole terms unreasonable by taking the state's major cities off-limits.

The plaintiffs were all convicted of sex-related crimes such as rape or indecent exposure, served their time, and were paroled before Jessica's Law passed. But they all fell under the law's residency restrictions because they were each convicted and paroled for separate, non-sex crimes after the measure's passage.

Even though their post-2006 parole terms were not for a sex-related crime, they were already registered sex offenders, which put them under the Jessica's Law umbrella.

The offenders' attorneys argue these requirements force their clients to "make an unlawful and unconscionable choice between leaving their home or residence, becoming homeless or violating a newly added condition of parole."

Further, the offenders argue they and all others in their situation are denied timely transfers to another county after being unable to find a new place in their home counties.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are defending Jessica's Law, saying it does what it was designed to do: protect children from sex offenders.

Lawyers for the state argue that the plaintiffs' attorneys are asking for too much by asking for the residency requirement to be eliminated for all registered sex offenders covered under Jessica's Law.

"The challenge must fail," they argue in court documents. "The residency restriction is designed to protect children, not to punish the offender." ..Source.. by JASON DEAREN