The Court of Appeal in California ruled that it is not cruel and unusual punishment to sentence a defendant to 25 years to life for simply failing to register as a sex offender. Usually, the Court will not impose a 25 year to life sentence on merely failing to register as a sex offender regardless of the 2 prior strike felony convictions. These are considered somewhat trivial offenses. Recently however, the Court of Appeal ruled in In re Willie Clifford Coley 2012 DJDAR 12202 that failure to register as a sex offender can trigger the 25-life sentence under the three strike law if the conduct is knowing, deliberate, and an intentional attempt to avoid registration. A prior case of People v. Carmony (2005) 127 Cal App.4th 1066 the Court ruled that 25-life sentence is cruel and unusual punishment for a 290 violation of failure to register. In that case however, the defendant did make a good faith attempt to register and it was due to neglect that he failed to do so. In that case the Court ruled that 25-life sentence was cruel and unusual. In the Coley case however, the defendant intentionally refused to register and was unwilling to comply. In that case, he received 25-life sentence.
If you or your loved one is facing a sex offense crime, our team of sex offense lawyers of Wallin & Klarich. For over 30 years we have been defending 1000s of clients accused of sex crimes. We know what you are going through. Call us now for a free consultation at (877) 466-5245.
