ACSOL: Appellate Court Rules Everyone Convicted of PC 288.2 Must Register for Life in California

“Today an appellate court made a bad decision,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “That bad decision will adversely affect every person whose felony conviction for violating PC Section 288.2 has been reduced to a misdemeanor.”

The appellate court decision issued today relied heavily upon two prior decisions — People v. Kennedy and People v. Manzoor — which both ruled in favor of the government. The plaintiffs in today’s case argued that the Kennedy case did not apply because it was decided prior to passage of the Tiered Registry Law and that the Manzoor case did not apply because it was based upon the decision in the Kennedy case.

According to today’s decision, the court stated that “a defendant convicted of a felony violation of section 288.2 is subject to lifetime registration.” The court added that “even though his felony conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor…section 17, subdivision (e) prohibits a court…from relieving him…of the duty to register as a sex offender….” The appellate decision issued today is not for publication.