This is one of the most significant issues being argued over and fought for in Los Angeles County, throughout California, and really throughout the country as it relates to sex-related offenses.
People don't want to have to register as a sex offender. In addition to being complex, cumbersome, and embarrassing, it's a situation where you can lose the ability to get particular employment. You can lose the ability to live in specific locations, and it affects you because it's such a massive stigma on an individual's life to have to register as a sex offender, especially for the rest of their lives. Being labeled as a sex offender can severely limit your opportunities and can have a lasting impact on your personal and professional life.
So, this is something that's talked about. I've been dealing with it now for over 26 years in the time that I've been practicing criminal defense and defending people related to sex-related offenses. I dealt with it when I worked for the prosecutor's office in Los Angeles, and I have a pretty good feel for the issues surrounding this. In simple terms, if you're accused of a sex crime, there are ways to avoid being labeled as a sex offender, and I can guide you through these options.
Avoid Pleading Guilty to Certain Sex Crimes
One of the first things is that people are not looking at it from the right frame of reference. In other words, criminal defendants are saying, I don't want to register as a sex offender, and they do not understand that it's not necessarily a decision whether you register as a sex offender more than it is a decision as to which you plead guilty.
In other words, if you plead guilty to certain crimes or no contest, you must register as a sex defender per the law — per the legislature. While other crimes, and unfortunately, this list is a lot shorter than the registration list, if you plead to them, you don't have to register as a sex offender. For instance, pleading guilty to certain crimes, like rape or sexual assault, will require you to register as a sex offender, while pleading to other crimes, like theft or drug possession, will not.
Under California Penal Code 290, it requires people convicted of certain sex crimes must register as a sex offender. A convicted sex offender must register with the local law enforcement agency annually within five days of their birthday and upon moving residences.
So, it would be best to have that basic understanding from the get-go. You're fighting more for a different charge than you are fighting for the lack of registration. It's a bit of semantics, but it starts to give you an idea of some things you can do to avoid sec registration. In other words, don't plead to a crime where you have to register as a sex offender.
Plead Guilty to Sex Crime That Doesn't Require Registration
Another alternative that I've used is sometimes, if they want you to register as a sex offender for at least a period of time, you could plead to a charge that does not require sex registration.
However, you could agree as part of your probation that you will register as a sex offender during the probationary period. If you don't pick up any new cases, you do everything you're supposed to do.
At the end of the probation, your case can be dismissed, your probation can be terminated, and you'll no longer have the requirement to register as a sex offender. This is a potential positive outcome that can be achieved through strategic legal maneuvers.
The prosecutors, if they've got the goods against you and the evidence to prove the case against you, have the power to say whether or not they will accept a resolution like that. So, that's one angle to try to avoid registering as a sex offender.
Another angle is that you could go to trial, win the case, and be found not guilty, and then you don't have to register as a sex offender. This is a potential positive outcome that can be achieved through a successful trial.
So, one of the biggest things you're looking at, from my perspective, is whether or not you can convince the prosecutor or your attorney can convince the prosecutor to allow you to plead to a non-registrable offense.
So, one thing you'll need to have a chance to do that is the facts and circumstances surrounding the crime that you've been arrested for has to be such that factually, in addition to pleading to a registrable offense, you could plead to a non-registrable offense and that could make sense under the facts and circumstances of your case.
The prosecutors prefer to avoid getting themselves involved with what's called legal fiction. They're going to make up a charge for you so you don't have to register as a sex offender, and it doesn't relate to the facts and circumstances of your particular case. They don't like to do that typically.
So, what we try to do is figure out, wait a minute, even if it is true that the person did this, you could also charge that as having consensual sex with a minor, which does not require registration.
You could also charge that with a solicitation of prostitution instead of pimping (CALCRIM 1150) and pandering (CALCRIM 1151) so the person doesn't have to register as a sex registrant and they don't have to be sent to prison for a minimum of three years. So, changing the charge is one way to avoid sex registration.
Proving You Are Not a Recidivist
Another way is to be able to fight your case and win your case. These are the two most realistic ways to avoid sex registration. Another thing done in conjunction with this is to show the prosecutor that you won't be a recidivist.
In other words, they don't have to worry about you getting involved with any more sex offenses in the future. If you can show them this, then that's another way to avoid sex registration and get the charge changed to something else.
The way that you do that is, number one, you get what's called a static 99 report, which is a report that is designed to determine whether somebody is going to commit further sex offenders. There's a whole bunch of different tests.
It's used in all the courts throughout Los Angeles County, maybe even across America. It's a recognized tool that has been used to try and show that a particular defendant will not be a recidivist.
Psychological Evaluation
Another thing is you can get a Penal Code 228.1 report which is where a psychiatrist will evaluate you. It's crucial to have a professional on your side, someone who's on the criminal defense panel that regularly deals with sex offenders, to guide you through this process.
They're trying to conduct tests, figure out why you did what you did, and we're trying to mount an argument that it's not going to happen again and show the prosecutors why it won't happen again and what can be done to make it a meager chance that you would be a sex offender again.
So, there are a whole bunch of different things that can be done, but of course, they have to apply to your case. That's why we have you come in. You sit down. We talk about everything, and we figure out, based on your particular circumstances, exactly how we will handle the case.
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