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WY made him register; their supreme court said “No can do!”

By Sofia Saric . . . The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation wrongly required a Casper man to register and remain on a sex offender registry for over three years.

James Bullard Minter was required to register in Wyoming on a misdemeanor sexual battery charge out of Georgia after he was flagged by customs for ordering a firearm suppressor. But, the high court found, DCI had insufficient evidence that Minter’s crime qualified as a “registerable offense” under the Wyoming Sex Offender Registration Act.

Minter was indicted by a grand jury in Effingham County, Georgia, on one count of felony child molestation of a 9-year-old in 1998, the ruling states. He pleaded not guilty.

The state of Georgia offered Minter a plea agreement nearly two years later, which reduced the charge against him to misdemeanor sexual battery with a recommended sentence of one year. He pleaded guilty under this agreement.

Minter was not required to register as a sex offender in Georgia, which was confirmed by the state’s registry, the ruling states.

In August 2007, he relocated to Gillette.

“When he arrived in Wyoming, he researched his obligation to register as a sex offender and found a Wyoming Supreme Court case that he read as saying only those convicted of a felony sex offense had to register in Wyoming,” the ruling states. “Because he was not convicted of a felony, Mr. Minter believed he was not required to register in Wyoming.”

Minter moved south to Casper three years later. He lived there another nine years without registering.

A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent notified DCI that it had intercepted a firearm suppressor addressed to Minter in 2019.

His criminal history was reviewed as a result. A DCI supervisor emailed the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office in December 2019, stating “… they recommend that he register until we can get court documents. Even though it’s a misdemeanor he will still have to register,” the ruling states.

Minter did what was asked of him and registered as a sex offender that month, but filed a petition in district court to seek relief from this requirement.

Read the remainder of the piece at the Casper Star Tribune.

someone outside of NARSOL

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3 Thoughts to “WY made him register; their supreme court said “No can do!””

  1. AvatarTim in WI

    Burying the lead on an issue is a tactic. This article points out the impropriety undertaken by the purveyors of the fascist SOR regime’s application. Fascists regimes do not require due processes (to promulgate lawfully) onto the individual citizen. This court stated to point clearly as it referred to State agent contemplating irrelevant facts in it’s pursuit to require registration on the WY man. We saw another court miss that very point when weighing the “cruel and unusual” question in Minnesota. That court wrongfully referenced ” what the defendant “had done” in the qualifying offense and not simply the law itself. SCOTUS itself declared such approach errant in the DOE03 cases concerning SOR. The Rehnquist court based it ( the requirement) on fact of conviction alone AND NOT factual behavior done by the indicted. That is how we reasonably separate the vindictive components away from the necessary components of the regime. This is a trend we see in judges. We saw it from the presiding judge in the USA Gymnastics case against the Doctor, Mr. Nassar in the sentence phase where she took the low road and belittled the man from the bench. That is not appropriate judicial behavior. So many judges fall into that cognitive trap. The fact is not all sex offenders are required to register despite what the purveyors claim. Yet the Mr. here was subjected to arrest without the proper lawful authority! No matter how right they claimed to be the proper paperwork wasn’t in place to require registration. Fascist do it anyway, guilty first while the presumption of innocence overridden. That is the lead headline buried!

    1. Avatarmut

      many are elected politicians rather than independant decision makers.

    2. AvatarTim in WI

      In reality, most administrative branch workers are appointed by the elected. Governors build their own cabinets. Governors make administrative appointments my friend, and many of them. They even appoint the attorney general! Subject to Senate approval by the constitution. However, if the Senate refuses the nominee candidate the post goes unfilled, while the interim appointee does the job. Sometimes these are one and the same person, sometimes not. Mostly not. These positions are regulated by law for most cases to following the rules established by law. The conflict confusion occurs in the marginal interpretation of said rule or law. Example: Declared unlawful nature of a MI license plate displays the word “WILLY.” RE: sexual connotation a child may conclude upon reading it on public roadway. True Story. Appointed official and not MI law. This is also an example of what George Washington feared most, The combination of State Government & Child rearing issues.
      If you want a war, try yelling at your neighbors about how to rear their children. War will certainly ensue.

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