A new federal court ruling ordering two men off Tennessee s sex offender registry could open the door for more people to exit the list, local attorneys familiar with the case said.
U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson this week said the state s increasingly restrictive sex offender registry law was unconstitutionally punishing the men after their convictions.
It is illegal to pass laws that retroactively punish people for past conduct. Richardson found that new restrictions added to the sex offender registry after the two men were convicted and sentenced violated the Ex Post Facto Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“That’s exactly what we wanted, lead attorney Ed Yarbrough said. Now they can get their lives back.”
Judge orders state to remove men from sex offender registry
TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A federal judge ruled Monday that Tennessee’s sex offender registration act is unconstitutional, at least as it was applied retroactively to two offenders.
The ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee affects only the two men who sued, identified in court documents as John Doe #1 and John Doe #2.
“I think the ruling, while it is narrowly tailored to our clients, does open the door to the possibility of a class action,” attorney Ed Yarbrough said in an interview.
Nicole McKee of the Act party, which strongly opposed the gun law reforms, told RNZ the legislation had been rushed through and “the unintended consequences … are starting to be realised”.
But Gun Control NZ co-founder Philippa Yasbek, an economist and public health advocate, said the increase in charges reflected police taking gun crime more seriously. “Police are charging firearms offences at a much higher rate than they previously were, which we think is really positive,” she said.
“Opponents of gun control suggest that if a single, narrow gun restriction doesn’t show an immediate drop in all gun crime, then it’s a failure,” said Philip Alpers, an Australia-based expert in gun laws and director of GunPolicy.org. “… Sadly, New Zealand police lost control of guns when they stopped registering 96% of firearms. Now it’s those most common, unpoliced firearms which almost invariably turn up in day-to-day gun crime.”
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