Ga. Supreme Court rebuffs sex offender registry challenge

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld a provision of the state's sex offender registry law that requires some people who have not committed sex crimes to register as sex offenders.

The law, said to be one of the toughest in the nation, allows the state to keep a tight leash on child molesters, rapists and other sexual predators after they have served their prison time. But it also requires anyone convicted of kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor to register as a sex offender regardless if a sexual act was committed.

The challenge was brought by Jake Rainer, who committed a drug robbery in Gwinnett County in May 2000. Rainer and his co-defendants picked up a 17-year-old girl who was going to sell them some marijuana. Instead of making a deal, they drove her to a cul-de-sac, took the pot and abandoned her.

Rainer pleaded guilty to robbery and false imprisonment. Because of the latter conviction, he now has had to register as a sex offender. This means he cannot live or work within 1,000 feet of places where children congregate, such as parks, schools and swimming pools.

Writing for a 5-2 majority, Justice Harold Melton rejected arguments that the provision, as applied to Rainer, was cruel and unusual punishment. Sex offender registry laws, Melton wrote, "are regulatory, not punitive, in nature."

"Because the registration requirements themselves do not constitute punishment, it is of no consequence whether or not one has committed an offense that is 'sexual' in nature before being required to register," Melton wrote.

The law also advances a legislative goal of requiring the state to alert the public as to the whereabouts of offenders who harm children, Melton said.

Writing in dissent, Chief Justice Carol Hunstein said that although registration as a sex offender may not be considered punishment, "it is no mere administrative formality or minor inconvenience."

Hunstein added that an offender who commits a sex crime while kidnapping or falsely imprisoning a victim "would clearly be covered" by other provisions of the registry law.

Department of Corrections records show there are dozens of offenders like Rainer who must register as a sex offender even though they committed no sex crime.

Legislation making its way through the state House may give such offenders a way to be released from the law's tough residency and employment restrictions. House Bill 571, which has the support of key lawmakers, allows offenders to petition Superior Court judges to remove them from the registry.

In other decisions released Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court:

• Upheld the death sentence against Stacey Ian Humphreys, who killed Cobb County real estate agents Lori Brown and Cynthia Williams in November 2003.
• Reinstated the convictions against Ali Nejad, the so-called "pantyhose rapist" who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for abducting women near Midtown and making them wear pantyhose before he sexually assaulted them.
• Ruled that a man convicted of armed robbery and aggravated assault could not challenge his convictions because his court filing, which he mailed from prison a few days before the deadline, arrived at the clerk's office one day late.
• Ruled that a class action lawsuit filed against natural gas supplier SouthStar Energy Services by customers who claim they were overcharged can proceed to trial.