Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

Not registering

I know someone who was convicted of some domestic sexual assult in 1995 in the state of CT, he did 9 months and 5 years probation and had to register. He moved to FL in 2004 because his daughter had a life threatining situation eventually all turned out well for the daughter he decided to stay out there. He belived that he did not fall under the statue for those who get in trouble for this after 10/1997 so he didnt register out there and then 4/2009 he gets arrested because of non-compliance and a few days after he was arrested he recives a letter from the state of CT talking about anyone who falls under that statue must register in the state of FL. and the state of FL is saying that CT states that his incident was in '99. basically i want to know how can he fight this because he only went by what he knew and how can the courts change dates and try to make it so that he does not fall under those guidelines and how can he fight it, they say he is facing 21 months


Asked on 5/21/09, 9:07 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Stoffels Stoffels Law Group

Re: Not registering

What you are really asking, is how does he defend himself. Impossible to answer here, but since he is facing jail time the first thing he should do is retain an attorney. If he cannot afford one, since he is charged, he should be entitled to a public defender to represent him.

He should be prepared to provide his attorney with the true facts of the case, including copies of his judgement and sentence. That way the attorney can fully investigate and determine whether the registration statute applies to him.

By the way, his lack of knowledge, or misinterpretation of the law is not a defense.

Read more
Answered on 5/21/09, 9:33 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in Florida