A Pulaski County circuit judge has released a 38-year-old brain-damaged Little Rock man from an 18-year-old court order requiring him to register as a sex offender, ruling that Andrew Baxter Low is not a danger to the community.
Judge Barry Sims said after a hearing on Monday that he was persuaded by the testimony of Low's psychologist of nearly 20 years.
The psychologist said Low, who suffered skull and spine-fracturing injuries as a 12-year-old Boy Scout, is not a threat to others and has not been in trouble with the law since he was required to register when he was 20 years old.
Section 12-12-919 of the sex offender registration law allows an offender to petition the court to terminate the registration requirement 15 years after completing his sentence. Judges are required to remove them from the sex-offender roll if they can prove they are not likely to pose a threat to the community.
Low has no criminal record and has never been convicted of a sex offense.
He was required to register when he was 19 after he repeatedly touched the buttocks and leg of a 10-year-old girl who was shopping with her family in the Wal-Mart on Bowman Road in November 1998.
The girl's mother grabbed Low and held him for police, and he was charged with first-degree sexual abuse, a felony. He was subsequently expelled from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where he had been enrolled for three semesters. ..Continued..
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