A person who is required to register in accordance with the Sex Offender Registration Act (act) and whose conviction is for an offense specified in Penal Code section 290.46 remains subject to the Internet publication requirement of Megan’s Law, notwithstanding having obtained relief under Penal Code section 1203.4. In 2007, the trial court dismissed Doe’s 1992 conviction for Penal Code section 288, subdivision (a), pursuant to Penal Code section 1203.4. Doe then sought relief from the Internet publication provision of Penal Code section 290.46, claiming that publication is a disability that stems from her conviction and that such publication does not come within any exception to the relief of section 1203.4. The appellate court rejected the argument. Section 290.007 holds that any person required to register pursuant to any provision of the act shall register, regardless whether the person’s conviction has been dismissed pursuant to section 1203.4. Section 290.46, with its Internet provisions, applies to persons, such as Doe, required to register in accordance with section 290.007. Accordingly, since section 1203.4 does not result in relief from registration under the act, it also does not provide relief from publication. Although there is a very narrow category of non-violent, intra-familial offenders who can apply for exclusion from the publication provision, Doe did not fall within this category.
Case Summaries