Articles Posted in Sexual Offenses

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Orange County may soon create a registry-style website for dangerous dogs. If the measure is approved by the Orange County board of supervisors there would be a few new definitions for “dangerous” or vicious” in regards to your pet.  What are the ripple effects?  You can expect higher home insurance premiums in some areas, home prices potentially affected, and less foot traffic in certain areas to business.  The recent proposal for a website that shows you the location of these dangerous animals is most likely in response to recent attacks in other counties in Southern California that resulted in bodily injury and in one Antelope Valley case death.

What does this mean for criminal law? If you have a vicious or dangerous dog and this website comes into existence, your neighborhood, depending on volume of “dangerous” or “vicious” dogs, could become a target by law enforcement.  A person having mere custody of such a dog may make them liable regardless of ownership.  If you have a guard dog or a breed that is prone to aggressiveness, you may want to consider that a photo of the dog and your address will be published to the public at large. Vigilantes have been known to occasionally target sex offenders based on the published sex offender registry, so the safety of your dog, your home, and potentially even you and your family could be at risk if the information is published in a similar dangerous dog registry.

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When a person is convicted of a sex crime, he or she is often required to register with that state’s sex offender registry. This registry is often made public and includes details of the individual’s crime(s), physical characteristics, and street address. Megan’s Law, as this is referred to, was enacted in response to the 1994 murder of 7-year old Megan Kanka. She was raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender who moved into a house across the street from the family without their knowledge.

Sex offender registration in many states is mandatory, and inclusion on the list often restricts an individual’s ability to obtain gainful employment, especially in professions involving children. Beyond that, cities impose their own ordinances regarding activities banned from sex offenders. In Orange County, sex offenders are banned from surfing at the Huntington Beach pier, fishing in Dana Point harbor, and accessing public parks in Mission Viejo. In Ventura suburb Simi Valley, an ordinance has been established prohibiting sex offenders from decorating their homes and giving away candy on Halloween.

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The Orange County register reports that a Laguna Niguel resident was arrested for drinking and having sex with her son’s underage friends since 2005. The woman, a 45-year old mother of three, is reportedly a “hockey mom” who allegedly met some of her son’s teammates during a sleepover at her home.

When interviewed by sheriff’s detectives, the woman first denied the allegations, but finally admitted to having sex with the older boy. She insists that she thought the older of the two boys was 18, like her son. He turned out to be 16. The woman’s Orange County criminal defense attorney insisted that she was going through a tumultuous divorce at the time, but that she wasn’t pursuing the boy. He also stated that the woman rebuffed the advances of the younger 13-year old.

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The Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) was created by the California Legislature in 1965 and is maintained by the California Department of Justice (CDOJ). In an effort to protect the health and safety of children in the state, individuals against whom issues of child neglect or abuse were reported and found to be substantiated are included on the CACI. As of 2011, it contained names of about 850,000 people who were suspected of physical, sexual, metal or emotional abuse and/or neglect of a minor.

People on this list have not necessarily been convicted of a crime, but surprisingly, until 2012, even people who were the subjects of investigations with unsubstantiated findings were likewise included on this list as a possible child abuser.

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If a female teacher has had sex with a former student when that student became an adult, should a jury know about it if she’s on trial for having sex with a minor student? Carlie Rose Attebury of Orange County, was recently found guilty of sex crimes involving a minor. During her trial, the prosecution introduced evidence that she had also had sex with three adult alumni of the school, shortly after they graduated.

Attebury, 32, was sentenced to 16 months in prison and forced to register as a sex offender. Her criminal defense attorney appealed the decision to the 4th District Court of Appeal. The justices ruled that the testimony by the three alumni was too prejudicial and should not have been told to the jury. They held that evidence suggested that she schemed or planned to have sex with minors, even though the students were legal adults. Because that suggestion was likely to have prejudiced the jury and may have contributed to her conviction, the appellate court overturned her convictions.

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“Chelsea’s Law” was signed into effect on September 9, 2010. Codified as AB1844, the law becomes one of the toughest in the world for sexual offenders. Most punitive perhaps, is its “one strike and you’re out” element or a provision that allows a life sentence without the possibility of parole for an adult defendant who engages in even a single act of forcible sexual conduct against a child 14 years old or younger.

Other provisions require lifetime parole for violent sexual offenders, GPS monitoring as part of that parole and lifetime prohibitions against entering parks where children could play.

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