290 Registration Terminated, Redondo Beach Indecent Exposure

On a May afternoon in the year 2000, our client drove around the Redondo Esplanade area with no pants on.  He was high on methamphetamine.  While it is not clearly exactly what led to his arrest for indecent exposure, police told him that he had been seen parked and staring at a woman.  At the time, our client was 26 years old.

A criminal case against him was filed shortly thereafter for violation of Penal Code § 314(1) (“Indecent Exposure”) in the Torrance Superior Court and our client, with the help of a public defender, was able to resolve the case for five years of formal probation, including two years of state prison suspended, 365 days in Los Angeles County jail (with the last 120 days in a drug treatment facility) and a year of sex offender classes. 

The toughest part of the sentence was he was required to register as a sex offender for life under Penal Code § 290.

While on probation, our client picked up a new felony case out of the Airport Courthouse and was remanded into custody pending a probation violation hearing.  The probation violation hearing was delayed for months, ultimately leading to his being found in violation of probation and his suspended prison sentence of two years being imposed.

However, at that point, our client had 726 days of custody credit from the 365 days served in first taking the plea, plus 241 days actual time after being remanded for the probation violation and 120 days “good time / work time” credit earned during the 241 days in custody.  The two year prison sentence was deemed served and our client then went home.

Over the years, our client picked up further criminal matters, but none were sex offenses, none were failures to register as a sex offender and none involved serious or violent felonies.

Our client otherwise was doing well.  He joined the Pacific Maritime Association and became a Casual Longshoreman.  He also got married and had three kids.

In 2019, he contacted our office regarding expungement of the 314(1) conviction, which he legally was disqualified from receiving because he did not successfully complete probation.  However, we explained that we could still request expungement “in the interest of justice” and the client agreed to request this, although we cautioned him that the judge certainly could deny the request.

Luckily, the judge in Torrance looked kindly upon our client and granted the petition for dismissal of the 314(1) “in the interest of justice.”  Expungement, however, does not end one’s obligation to register as a sex offender under Penal Code § 290.

In 2021, as the reader of this summary may be aware, the California state legislature passed into law Senate Bill (SB) 384.  This new law permitted certain registered sex offenders to request termination of their registration requirement in the discretion of the court, subject to the prosecutor’s opposition (if any) and the registrant’s tier level, which is based upon the registrant’s conviction type, the conviction history of the registrant for other sex offenses as well as serious or violent felonies, and the number of years for which the registrant has registered.

In mid-2022, the client contacted Greg Hill & Associates about SB 384 and having his obligation to register ended. 

 

Greg explained that first and foremost, the client needed to know which tier level he fell into.  Greg suspected it was Tier One, with a ten-year obligation to register, but with the client’s other convictions, Greg worried it might be Tier Two (with a twenty-year registration obligation).

The client then contacted his law enforcement officer with who he registered at the Harbor Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, who gave our client a letter advising him that he was in fact Tier One.

Greg then explained the process for such a petition to be eventually ruled upon by a judge.  Greg explained that law enforcement had to file a law enforcement checklist summarizing the registrant’s registration history and the prosecutor had to file their response to the petition, made on form CR-415, on a CR-417 form.

Greg then assembled a short memorandum of points and authorities and a declaration from our client to file with the CR-415.  We then filed CR-415, with the supplemental documents, in May and served it on the Los Angeles Police Department, Harbor Division.

The hearing on the petition took place in October 2022, wherein the Torrance Superior judge assigned to the petition granted the petition, ending our client’s obligation to register as a sex offender.  The client was extremely happy with this result.

For more information about ending one’s sex offender registration obligation, please click on the following articles: