Posted on 10/27/2005 11:14:47 AM PDT by JZelle
GALENA, Md. (AP) -- A Kent County man convicted of molesting two Boy Scouts in the 1980s will not have to register as a sex offender after serving a prison sentence because the crime was long ago, a judge has ruled. James Carl Combs, now 41 and living in Galena, was an assistant scoutmaster in Cecilton in the early 1980s, when he molested two boys, ages 12 and 14, a jury decided in August. The charges came about after one of the victims, now in his 30s, recalled the sexual abuse during a psychotherapy session in November, said Detective 1st Class Adam Streight with the Cecil County Sheriff's Office. The therapist followed state law in notifying police about the sex abuse, and Combs was convicted of a second-degree sex offense and five counts of sexual child abuse. At Combs' sentencing Monday, prosecutors asked for six years in prison, with Combs registering as a sex offender after his release.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Washington, the new Florida.
Err, Maryland. thats what I get from thinking looking at "Washington Times"..
This is in Maryland, not Washington.
It's called the Bill of Rights. Ex Post Facto. You can't pass a law and then apply it retroactively.
But he was sentenced Monday.
What does THAT have to do with registering?
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Possibly the ex-post facto prohibition in the US Constitution? If you are convicted of a crime that did not have a certain sanction attached to it, then you can not usually be sanctioned by more than what the law called for at the time you committed the act.
What does THAT have to do with registering?If I'm not mistaken, you have to be tried according to the laws in place at the time the crime was committed. If registration wasn't required then, it would be considered an "ex post facto" law to require it now...and that's banned by the Constitution.
-Eric
Still trolling for victims?
Does that mean if somebody in 1978 commits a capital crime, but is caught in 2005 in a place where capital punishment is suspended, they can still be punished by the 1978 guidelines?
"State sentencing guidelines call for four to nine years in prison for the offenses.
Instead, Cecil County Circuit Court Judge O. Robert Lidums gave Combs a three-month term at the county jail and three months of house arrest."
Seems the judge only follows the rules he likes.
Why do they let these psychopaths off the hook?
The townsfolk should protest the courts. Make public his ID and address.
They need to plaster the pervs mugs on every bulletin board and telephone pole in the state.
If you want on/off the ping list let me and little jeremiah know.
Sounds like the judge has the same concerns about 'recovered memory' junk science that I do.
Probably (likely) ex post facto. That is unconstitutional and would be argued during the appeal.
I'm betting that per state law that since the crimes were committed in the '80's he's subject to the laws in effect at the time - even though he was just convicted.
That being said this 'recovered memory stuff' is troubling. Much of it is horse poop. The so-called memories are created by the therapist.
It's not when sentencing occurs, it's when the crime occurs.
If they make 10-gauge shotguns illegal, and I owned one 20 years ago, I can't go to jail for once owning a 10-gauge shotgun. You can't pass a law and apply it retroactively.
Let's try another example. You go through a "Yield" sign at 4th and Main, obeying the traffic laws. Neighbors don't like the law at that intersection, so they petition to have it replaced with a "Stop" sign. You cannot then be given a ticket for having gone through the "Yield" sign several months prior to the installation of the "Stop" sign.
A twelve or fourteen year old who cannot remember sexual abuse until he is in his thirties...and in therapy no less?
Does that mean if somebody in 1978 commits a capital crime, but is caught in 2005 in a place where capital punishment is suspended, they can still be punished by the 1978 guidelines?I'm not sure about that one. But if you are convicted of a murder committed before a state imposed capital punishment, you can't be executed for it.
It seemed to me that there was a major gap in the plot of John Grisham's The Chamber, an otherwise excellent book. The protagonist's grandfather was convicted of a murder committed during the 1960s and sentenced to death. But all state death penalty laws were overturned by the USSC in 1972. It would appear that he couldn't have been sentenced to death, since the state law at the time was ruled unconstitutional.
-Eric
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