Reworking of sex offender law nears passage

At issue is the level of a so-called sex crime.

In March, for example, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld a provision of the state's sex offender registry law that requires some people to register as sex offenders even if they have not committed a sex crime.

Jake Rainer tried to get off the list after he was placed on it following a drug robbery. In 2000, an 18-year-old Rainer robbed a 17-year-old girl in Gwinnett County who was going to sell him marijuana. Rainer and three friends picked up the girl, drove her to a cul-de-sac, stole the marijuana and left her there.

In getting a false imprisonment charge, Rainer also had to register as a sex offender, meaning that he cannot live or work within 1,000 feet of any place children gather, such as schools, churches and parks.

Georgia has one of the toughest sex-offender laws in the nation, but courts have continued to chip away at it.

Judges, for example, have granted relief for offenders who own homes, who are homeless and who have gotten mandatory life sentences for failing to register a second time.

House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), who wrote the bill in the House, said it “takes care of some issues” raised through court challenges.

“We’re tried to address and close some loopholes,” Ralston said, describing most of the changes as “fairly minor.”

What is apparently a controversial provision in some camps would allow some low-level sex offenders to come off the registry. Teenagers, for example, who have had sex with younger teens or classmates have also been labeled as sex offenders in some cases.

“I think they’re entitled to a shot at convincing the court they’re rehabilitated” and will not be a further danger, Ralston said.

The omnibus legislation also included parts of an incest bill that came out of the Senate earlier in the session.

“We tried to address and remedy as much as we can,” Harp said.

The bill, initially sponsored by Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome), would provide gender neutrality in incest cases. Essentially, the bill states that if a man rapes his son, or a woman rapes her daughter, that person can also be charged with incest, along with rape or sodomy.

Smith, who had been on the outs with his party over his vote on a controversial hospital tax bill, feared that his legislation -- which he has tried to get passed for four years -- would never leave the House.

“I am very happy,” Smith said. “I am thrilled that this is going to become law. There was a hole in the code that needs to be fixed.”

In a somewhat related matter, the Senate passed HB 651, which would give Georgia schools easier access to information on the sexual offender database. That bill passed 47-0.

Staff writer Nancy Badertscher contributed to this article.