Sex Law Clarified

A sex offender who has qualified for probation and has been released from "all penalties and disabilities" as provided by the Penal Code, cannot be tried for a public offense if he fails to register a change of address.

This partial clarification of Section 290 of the State of California Penal Code, which requires certain sex offenders to register with a law enforcement agency each time the offender changes residence, was made by the State District Court of Appeal recently.

The case was handled by Kenneth C. Zwerin, San Francisco attorney, without fee because of Mr. Zwerin's strong feelings as to the constitutionality of the section "because it made an artitrary distinction between sex offenders and other convicted criminals." The attorney added that at most "this section is but a law enforcement technique designed for the convenience of law enforcement agencies, through which a list of names and addresses of certain offenders then residing in a given community is compiled...."

The court's opinion was that the requirement of registration ended with the successful termination of the probation. The court refused to pass on the constitutionality of the section, holding that it was not necessary for its present decision.

The court pointed out, however, that the "release obviously operates prospectively, not retroactively. It does not necessarily revoke or expunge the record of first registration or re-registrations that took place during the probationary period."

"A great deal of credit should be given the San Francisco Adult Probation Officer who encouraged me to file the petition," Mr. Zwerin stated, "and to the individual who permitted his name to be used in the petition and was not abashed to have posterity ascertain that he had suffered a felony conviction for a sexual offense."

20