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Morals Offenses 15 Years Ago, Earlier Don’t Justify Sex-Offender Registration—C.A.
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has failed to produce sufficient evidence that a man with an extensive record of criminality, including several minor sex crimes, should continue to be registered as a sex offender given the remoteness in time of offenses relevant to the specific status in issue, Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has held.
The unpublished opinion by Justice Thomas A. Delaney, filed Friday, directs that the motion by Hoang Minh Nguyen pursuant to Penal Code §290.5, terminating his listing as a sex offender, be granted. Orange Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Glazier had denied the motion at the behest of the District Attorney’s Office,
It argued that Nguyen’s “criminal history dates back to 1994” and said it could not obtain a record of all of his arrests and prosecutions of him “given that it is too large for transmission.”
2006 Misdemeanors
In February 2002, he pled guilty to lewd conduct in public, loitering with Intent to commit prostitution, and solicitation for prostitution, all misdemeanors. There were police reports of other aberrant conduct.
The requirement of sex-offender registration came in 2006 after Nguyen was convicted of misdemeanor annoying or molesting a child and lewd acts entailing indecent exposure on a school yard.
In 2008, and again in 2009, he was convicted of misdemeanor indecent exposure.
In denying the §290.5 motion, Glazier observed that Nguyen “has a fairly long and lengthy, and fairly diverse criminal history, with a wide variety of ranging charges before” and that even after being ordered to register as a sex offender, he “still had ongoing behavior of highly relevant sexual behavior that is concerning to the court.”
The statutory ground he relied on was that “community safety would be significantly enhanced by requiring continued registration.”
Indecedent Exposure
In his opinion reversing the order, Delaney pointed out that only incidents involving indecent exposure constituted a registrable offense.
“Although the 2006 indecent exposure to the minors is concerning, a petitioner’s sex offense is insufficient by itself to demonstrate that a petitioner presents a significant current risk to community safety,” he wrote.
“Nor does the fact that the registrable offenses were committed over several years support denial of the petition,” the jurist said. The evidence, for example, does not show the sex crimes were numerous or of increasing seriousness.”
He remarked:
“The 2002 offenses are non-registrable crimes and too remote to demonstrate a current risk. The absence of evidence on the remaining crimes, some of which occurred in 1994, also do not support denial of the petition.”
Delaney declared:
“The evidence was inadequate to show appellant’s current risk of sexual or violent re-offense.”
The case is People v. Nguyen, D081693.
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