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Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Ind. Decisions - More on: "Sex offender ID law misapplied, higher court says"

Updating this ILB entry from Julu 10th, Sophia Voravong of the Lafayette Journal Courier reports today:

A convicted sex offender who assumed a dead man's identity -- apparently to avoid the state's sex offender registry -- was resentenced Monday to 26 years and six months in prison.

David M. Harris, 55, told Judge Don Daniel of Tippecanoe Circuit Court that he plans to appeal Daniel's decision. But Harris admitted that he knowingly committed the crimes.

"I realize I did do wrong," he said. "I just hope there was no undue hardship. ... I'm going to say sorry and hope to move on in the future."

Harris was found guilty of felony counts of forgery, application fraud, identity deception and failure to register as a sex offender after a bench trial before Daniel in July 2008.

He also was found guilty of misdemeanor failure to possess a valid Indiana driver's license or identification card, a requirement that took effect July 1, 2006.

The Indiana Court of Appeals, however, dismissed two convictions against Harris earlier this summer, ordering that Harris be sentenced again.

It found that Harris was not guilty of application fraud because the prosecutor's office could not prove that he applied in Tippecanoe County for a driver's license under the name of Richard Blair.

The unanimous higher-court opinion also ruled that Harris does not have to carry government-issued ID because his two convictions for child molesting occurred before the new law took effect.

Tippecanoe County had been applying that legislation to all registered sex offenders. As of Monday, the "frequently asked questions" portion of Indiana's Sex and Violent Offender Registry did not specify that it applies only to people convicted after July 1, 2006.

Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Laura Zeman said the discrepancy has not yet been settled by Indiana's upper courts. But she said the Indiana Prosecuting Attorney's Council has advised her office to not prosecute similar cases in the meantime.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 2, 2009 09:24 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions