Criminal Defense
Since 1993
Since 1993
Failure to Register as a Sex Offender
Failure to register as a sex offender is a ridiculously serious charge. Taxpayer money is being wasted as people go to prison for this and it should be, like, a parking ticket. It should be a fine.
Failure to register is a Level 7 offense, that just means it scores mandatory prison and that’s unfortunate.
Let’s get into some advice on how to handle these things, ok. There are sex offender task forces everywhere, as you know. And, their job is to go verify the addresses, knock on doors. The problem is, its not a crime to not answer the door. You are constitutionally permitted to sit on your couch and finish the overtime, finish the fourth quarter. You don’t have to get up and answer the door. Just because they don’t find you at your house ever, doesn’t mean that you’ve committed some crime. It is only your job to register where you live. And if you’ve done that, if you’ve complied with the job, then the fact that they can’t find you there–tough luck. That’s not a crime. They think it is, but that’s a dismissal.
So, I recommend getting with an attorney immediately. There are a lot of loopholes on cases like this but the problem I find is, if you thought you could talk your way out of this and before you hired an attorney, then you might have screwed yourself on some of the loopholes.
The good news is, these things are getting dismissed left and right. The good news is, they’re defensible, ok? And, the good news is that there is help out there, so take advantage of the help.
Get a good local attorney, make sure you ask them a pretty obvious question, which is: “Gee, have you defended any of these cases before?” You’d be surprised how many attorneys really haven’t defended these sorts of cases. Call a local attorney that is familiar with the judges in your area and what they’re doing on these cases. And, this thing will work out for you. I wish you luck.