Scott Harper/GAB News•
Aug 04, 2021
Georgetown attorney Elise Crosby was one of two lawyers whose case led to a recent unanimous decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court that ruled the state’s requirement requiring sex offenders to register for life, without prior judicial review, is unconstitutional.
The case – Powell v. Keel – was brought by Crosby and Columbia lawyer Jon Ozmint. It involved a Richland County man previously removed from the registry by a circuit judge in May 2019.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) appealed, and Dennis Powell was re-instated on the registry until his permanent removal when the State Supreme Court issued its ruling last month.
SLED appealed asking for the matter to be reconsidered but the SC Supreme Court today denied that request.
In the opinion written by the justices, it indicates the state’s “requirement that sex offenders must register for life without any opportunity for judicial review violates due process.”
The justices say there needs to be an opportunity for judicial review “to assess the risk of reoffending.”
The SC Supreme Court ruling gives the General Assembly one year “to correct the deficiency in the statute regarding judicial
review.”
In the case that led to the ruling. Powell was arrested in 2008 after having graphic online conversations with someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl, but who was an undercover officer.
He pled guilty and was sentenced to probation and was ordered to be on the sex offender registry for life. Crosby said he has not reoffended.
“The lifetime inclusion of individuals who have a low risk of re-offending renders the registry over-inclusive and dilutes its utility by creating an ever-growing list of registrants that is less effective at protecting the public and meeting the needs of law enforcement,” justices wrote. “There is no evidence in the record that current statistics indicate all sex offenders generally pose a high risk of re-offending.”
Chief Justice Donald Beatty called the state’s registry the “most stringent in the country.” The Court pointed out most states provide for “individualized risk assessment hearings.”
Crosby told us South Carolina is the only state with a lifelong sex offender registry with no opportunity for hearings to determine if a person should be removed.
Crosby has been down this road before. In 2011, she helped a client be removed from the sex offender registry. The circuit court decided in her favor. It was appealed to the state Supreme Court and while the high court did rule that particular person should be removed from the registry, the court at that time did not address constitutional questions concerning the registry.
In 2017, Ozmint and Crosby secured removal of an individual placed on the state’s lifelong registry by virtue of a temporary military posting here, even though the state where the offense occurred removed him from its registry. The law itself was not reviewed in that case either.
Speaking about today’s ruling, Crosby says it “marks a sea change for the South Carolina Sex Offender Registry.”
Crosby also states: “To say that sex offenders are not popular is an understatement. But, that sums up a big part of the problem. They go on that website for life, no matter what the facts were. The Court gave the General Assembly time to fix the law, which was always supposed to be a law enforcement tool, not a club.”