Appeals court rules against Orange County on sex offender law

1-10-2014 California:

A panel of California appeals court judges found Friday that state law trumps Orange County's regulations on sex offenders that ban them from parks and beaches.

The fourth appellate district decision reverses the conviction of Hugo Godinez, a registered sex offender who was convicted of a misdemeanor for violating the county ordinance after he went to a company picnic at Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley in 2011. Godinez had been convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery in 2010.

The county's restrictions on sex offenders, passed in 2011, were among the most aggressive in the state.

A number of cities within Orange County adopted versions of the law at the urging of the district attorney's office, and many of them also faced court challenges.

An Orange County Superior Court appeals panel overturned Godinez's conviction in 2012. In response, the Orange County Sheriff's Department stopped enforcing the law, and the Lake Forest City Council voted to repeal its ban.

The county appeals panel said the sex offender law appeared to be illegal and asked the 4th District Court of Appeal to hear the case.

"Godinez argues state law preempts the county ordinance and therefore his conviction is void. We agree," the appeals court ruling said.

The state Legislature has already enacted a "comprehensive statutory scheme regulating the daily life of sex offenders," and the Orange County law conflicts with it, the panel found.

Orange County's law allows sex offenders to go to parks with written permission from the county sheriff. The appeals court found that requirement amounts to a "de facto registration requirement" that conflicts with the state's existing sex offender registration requirements.

Representatives of the Orange County district attorney's office could not immediately be reached for comment. ..Source.. by Abby Sewell

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State appeals court finds California law trumps Orange County's strict sex offender measures

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court ruled Friday that state law trumps Orange County regulations banning sex offenders from parks and beaches, dealing a serious setback to some of the strictest sex-offender rules in the state.

The decision comes after a county court in 2012 overturned the conviction of a sex offender for going to a park and asked the 4th District Court of Appeal to rule on the case and the legality of the regulations, the Los Angeles Times reported. (http://bit.ly/1lKYYCU) The Sheriff's Department had already stopped enforcing the law in response.

The registered sex offender, Hugo Godinez, was convicted of a misdemeanor for going to a company picnic at a Fountain Valley park in 2012. He had been convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery two years earlier to earn the sex offender status.

Orange County's restrictions passed in 2011 barred offenders from parks and beaches unless they got written permission from the sheriff.

The appeals judges on Friday found that the rule amounted to a "de facto registration requirement" and conflicts with laws passed by the state which already provide a "comprehensive statutory scheme regulating the daily life of sex offenders."

A phone message left with the district attorney's office after business hours by The Associated Press was not immediately returned, but the DA's Chief of Staff Susan Kang Schroeder told City News Service the county may appeal further.

"We're going to review our options requesting the Supreme Court of California to review this case," Schroeder said. "We believe in this war in protecting children against sex offenders that the state never intended to pre-empt every law keeping sex offenders out of parks."

On the urging of the district attorney, several cities passed similar measures, the Times reported. Many of them were also facing legal challenges and one, Lake Forest, has already repealed its rules. ..Source.. by Daily Journal