Judge Finds New Sex Offender Law Unconstitutional
Judge Finds New Sex Offender Law Unconstitutional Posted: May 17, 2008 11:31 AM EDT Updated: May 17, 2008 11:31 AM EDT CLEVELAND (AP) - An Ohio judge has ruled that a new state law that requires increasing the length of time convicted sex offenders must register with police is unconstitutional. In a case involving a man convicted of sexual battery in 2003, Judge Ronald Suster of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court ruled last week that the law wrongfully increases punishment without a court hearing and is applied to offenders who committed crimes before the law was passed in 2007. The Legislature passed the law last year to comply with a federal one that requires states to increase registration requirements by 2009 or lose some federal funding. The federal law is named after Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old Florida boy abducted and killed in 1981. The new law requires longer registration times for felons and mandatory community notification for some offenders once considered low level. The goal was to prevent sex offenders from slipping through the cracks and committing other sex crimes. http://www.woio.com/global/story.asp?s=8340673