Court says sex offenders can challenge arrest
Jan 23, 2012, 7:51 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court says rules requiring sex offenders to update their registration when crossing state lines don’t automatically apply to those who committed their crimes before the law was passed.
The high court ruled 7-2 that Billy Joe Reynolds can challenge his arrest for violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
Reynolds was sentenced to 18 month in prison for moving from Missouri to Pennsylvania and not registering as a sex offender in his new state. He sued, saying this crime was before the registration act’s rules were put into place. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out his lawsuit.
The high court overturned that decision. But Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented, saying the law applied to pre-Act offenders.
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