This is a rather interesting case. In essence, the man (charged w/sex crime) committed some kind of sexual act, but the jury found him innocent of any sex act, and instead found him guilty of a misdemeanor assault. Apparently the judge got ticked off, and sentenced him to register as a sex offender (which is not punishment). However, the Appellate court said, because residency law is part of registering as a sex offender, and that in Calif. they previously held that their residency law is punishment, then that was a punishment not prescribed for, in a misdemeanor assault. Love the confusion, but unfortunately it actually means, he still has to register but not follow residency laws? Is that what they will force him to do? See decision People -v- Mosley. We may hear more of this case...10-12-2010 California:
When he was 18 years old ___ of Anaheim did something with a 12-year-old girl that may have involved kisses near a residential pool or forceful intercourse in a garage or both, according to court records.
After the June 2003 incident, an Orange County jury refused to find him guilty of committing a lewd act on a child under the age of 14. Instead, they found him guilty only of misdemeanor assault.
Despite that verdict Superior Court Judge David A. Hoffer took the unusual step of punishing him as if he'd been found guilty of a sex crime. Hoffer, a former assistant United States Attorney, made him register publicly as a sexual predator. Registration also prohibited him from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children gather.
This week, a California Court of Appeal based in Santa Ana overturned Hoffer's ground-breaking decision.
"The court's imposition of sex offender registration for misdemeanor assault effectively increased the penalty beyond the statutory maximum," wrote Justice Raymond Ikola on behalf of a panel that included Kathleen O'Leary and Eileen Moore. "Discretionary sex offender registration entailing the residency restriction cannot be imposed upon a defendant on the basis of facts not found beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury."
Hoffer's attempt at judicial activism fails. ..Source.. by R. Scott Moxley
