Families of SOs Community Group
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My name is James Kenney Martin, I am 55 years old and live in Johnson City, TN. I have been on the TBI registry since 2008. I Violated the SOR in 2010 for failure to notify my change of address within 48 hours. I am a lifetime sex offender due to the victim (step-daughter) being 12 years old at time of offense. I have heard that I may be removed from the registry due to my conviction being before any SO laws were active.
My story: I was convicted in 1988 (Colorado) for Sexual Assault of a Child (Class 4 Felony) I was sentenced (via Plea Bargain) to three years, served in DOCC. I completely served three years (Time Served) and released in 1991. Since I completed my time day for day I was unconditionally released and no parole/probation or other after incarceration sentence.
I lived a normal life from 1991 to 2008 lived in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. I owned to my legal endeavors, Don't Do The Crime if Your Can;t Do The Time! I am now trying my best to live a happy life, I wish I had a girlfriend or significant other that would add to my current life and have a loving relationship.
Someone told me that the SCOTUS had changed the registry laws about retroactive unconstitutional and I have looked over and over to find this with no luck. I am willing to be a RSOL advocate in Tennessee since there is NO advocate here.
I am willing to support any families of sex offenders with advice, encouragement, and hope
My story: I was convicted in 1988 (Colorado) for Sexual Assault of a Child (Class 4 Felony) I was sentenced (via Plea Bargain) to three years, served in DOCC. I completely served three years (Time Served) and released in 1991. Since I completed my time day for day I was unconditionally released and no parole/probation or other after incarceration sentence.
I lived a normal life from 1991 to 2008 lived in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. I owned to my legal endeavors, Don't Do The Crime if Your Can;t Do The Time! I am now trying my best to live a happy life, I wish I had a girlfriend or significant other that would add to my current life and have a loving relationship.
Someone told me that the SCOTUS had changed the registry laws about retroactive unconstitutional and I have looked over and over to find this with no luck. I am willing to be a RSOL advocate in Tennessee since there is NO advocate here.
I am willing to support any families of sex offenders with advice, encouragement, and hope
Regarding your conviction, was it one of those situations in which you were due to come off the registry in "x" amount of years, but when they created tier levels or the AWA/SORNA was enacted, it bumped you up to a lifetime registration?
If so, a few STATE Supreme Courts have ruled that they cannot enhance your registry requirements if the date of your conviction was before they increased your registration period.
This is how I got off the registry in Oklahoma last summer. When I was released from prison in April 2000, I was required to register once a year for ten years.
In 2007, Oklahoma enacted laws which created a tier system and I was placed in tier 3, which increased my registration requirement from once a year for 10 years to every 90 days for lifetime.
A man named Starkey sued the state of Oklahoma and won. The Oklahoma State Supreme Court ruled that increasing my registration requirements would make the registry punitive for me and the new requirements could not be applied retroactively.
As result, every one who was convicted before 2007 in Oklahoma had to revert back to their original requirements, which was once a year for 10 years. After they had completed the 10 years, they were removed from the registry.
The name of the case in Oklahoma was Starkey vs The Oklahoma Department of Corrections and here is a link----
http://tinyurl.com/p2et7ul
Oklahoma had to remove almost 3,000 offenders from the registry.
Prior to that, the Ohio Supreme Court had ruled in favor of sex offenders, which also addressed the retroactivity of the tier levels.
That case was Williams vs Ohio, and you can find it here
http://tinyurl.com/nogbyo6
There was also some relief due to registrants in Maryland, as Nancy Forster sued the state and won, which removed some registrants from the registry.
Here is a link to that case---
http://tinyurl.com/m59pw6n
Everyone who has a situation like yours and mine should look into this, as this is the fastest method I know to get removed from the registry. We are making some progress on the state level, but not much on the federal level.
I welcome you to the board and hope that we can support and learn from each other.
The Starkey or the Williams case is what you want to look for.
Also the appellate attorney who won the Starkey case in Oklahoma has a website. His name is John Dunn out of Tulsa. Of course, he cannot practice Tennessee law, but on his site he answers a lot of questions about the Starkey case.
Here is the link to his site with the Starkey information---
http://tinyurl.com/lr9fnun
I feel as if there are other Starkey cases out there, but people just are not aware of them or don't understand the law.
I hope this can help you and hope it will allow other registrants in other states in your situation to be removed from the registry.
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PS Your conviction does not even have to be in Tennessee, as Starkey's conviction was from Texas.
Rew shares a lot of useful information, and hopefully it can be sued to help you and others to be removed from the registry.
RSOL is always looking for advocates to help in every state. I'm sure you would be a welcome for TN.
Sorry you need us, but glad you found us.
A couple of other things to keep in mind.
In each state's case, the plaintiff----the registrant----argued that the laws were retroactively applied to those who were convicted before their registration requirements.
The men who sued these individual states, won on the basis that parts of the registry violated the ex post facto portion of the STATE constitution----not the United States Constitution----which means that it could not be applied retroactively.
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