Let's review the common mistakes people make who are being investigated or charged with sex offender registration violations in California. If you or a loved one is being investigated or charged with violating the terms of their sex registration, you want to get an attorney right away. That's the first common mistake people make.
It's either doing nothing and hoping things work out or trying to handle everything by talking to the police or investigators. This is not the best move.
Typically, what happens is, when people are put on sex registration, they are told to fill out specific paperwork and sign their name. They're also advised to read detailed paperwork that gives them all of the terms and conditions of their sex registration.
This is the document that law enforcement is going to work off of to claim that you violated your sex registration – either claiming you didn't register within five days of your birthday, you didn't register at all, or sometimes people become transient and then don't know what to do, and end up violating the terms and conditions of their sex registration.
Not Following Instructions
The first common mistake is not following through on the paperwork you were ordered to comply with. The second common mistake is talking to law enforcement about what is going on once you find out that you're being investigated for a sex registration violation. You want to get an attorney right away.
Let the attorney intervene. Let the attorney talk to law enforcement and ensure things are handled moving forward. Sometimes, you can exacerbate your problem, getting further issues if you try to take stuff yourself once you realize you've got a problem.
I have you come in. We sit down and go over everything. We figure out what the terms you supposedly violated and then see if there are any corrective measures we can take before a case is filed. If the case has already been filed and you have a court date pending, we want to start preparing for that court date.
Review of Case Details
I'll have you come in. We'll go over the facts and details of what happened and begin to build a defense, either to defend what you allegedly did utterly, or we will mitigate things and show, for example, that this was a mistake. You didn't do anything intentionally, and you certainly weren't trying to do anything of a sexual nature to anybody.
The main reason they've got that sex registration is to keep an eye on people who have convictions in the past and who are likely to put themselves in a position to do something to someone under the age of 18 that will cause them to get prosecuted again.
The critical thing is that you have to realize most people who have sex crimes on their record are facing a lot of time because either that sex crime is very serious or it's a strike. They will try to double up your sentence with this new Penal Code Section 290 violation. So, we have to see if you did violate that Penal Code section or if this is being inappropriately investigated and prosecuted, which I know a lot of times in this area of the law.
I'll put my 30 years of experience to work for you, having worked for the district attorney's office a superior court judge, and defending people just like you since the early 1990's. I've been down the road you're about to travel and had success. Pick up the phone now. Ask for a meeting with Ron Hedding. I stand at the ready to help you.
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