Kidnapping Charge Dismissed Through Appeal
5/28/2009
Case Type: Post-Conviction Review/Criminal
Background:
Wiscasset, Maine - Client had pled guilty to a felony charge of kidnapping, not realizing or being advised that because the victimwas under the age of 18 (victim was 17, client was 19),he would be required by Maine State Law to register as a Sex Offender for a 10 year period, even though there was absolutely no sexual component to the actual conduct of Client. Attorney David Weyrens took the case after the client was already convicted, and had begun to serve his sentence. Through an action called Post-Conviction review, Attorney Weyrens was able to reconstruct the original plea negotiations and the sentencing, to prove to the District Attorney and the Court that Client's constitutional rights had been violated by the total failure to advise him that he would be required to register as a sex offender. Furthermore, Attorney Weyrens discovered that the Client had also been sentenced to an illegal 4 year term of probation, when the maximum period authorized by law had been 3.
Result:
As a result of the Post-Conviction review litigation, Client withdrew his guilty plea and, because of the recognition that the conduct he had been punished for had no sexual component, he was actually removed from the Sex Offender Registry, which is no small feat. In addition, his probation sentence was reduced by one year in recognition of the illegal sentence.
The message is that even if you have already been convicted, if your constitutional rights have been violated, you may be entitled to relief.
Additionally, this case highlights the unjustness of the sex offender laws which have been passed in many U.S. jurisdictions, including Maine. Below is a link to a recent cover story in The Economist, which highlights these ineffective statutes, the hallmark of which are laws that often make no distinction between truly reprehensible and abhorrent crimes such as rape, and crimes which seemingly don’t fit under the heading of ‘sex offender,’ such as urinating in public (a conviction for which sex offender registration is required in 13 states), streaking (which is registerable in 32 states), consensual sex between teenagers (registerable in 29 states), or the conduct in the case handled by Attorney Weyrens.
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