A History of PA’s Registry, Part II

A History of PA’s Megan’s Law and the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Part 2 By Randall – July 29, 2021 As we saw in Part I, litigation challenging Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law began shortly after it’s enactment in April 1996 and reached the Supreme Court of PA (SCOPA) in 1999. Megan’s Law II Following the SCOPA Williams decision…

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Cosby Conviction Vacated

By Jeremy Roebuck and Laura McCrystal Bill Cosby was released from prison Wednesday after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his sexual assault conviction and barred him from being retried. upending the first high-profile celebrity conviction of the #MeToo era. The justices ruled the 83-year-old comedian — who has served more than two years of a three-to-10-year sentence — had been denied…

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Legal challenge to strike down PA’s Registry given a green light

Commonwealth v. Torsilieri Update 1/15/21 The fate of the public sex offender registry in PA will be determined sometime this year or next. Either defendant Torsilieri’s challenge will again reach the Supreme Court of PA, or the Commonwealth will be able to convince lower judges of their argument. (For a history of this momentous case and its significant delay, please…

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A good idea gone bad: How the PA Senate sabotaged the sexual abuse prevention plan

By Randall Hayes In September 2019, the increasingly prevalent and in-demand problem of online images of child sexual abuse (CSA) or “child pornography” rocked the Senate of Pennsylvania in a big way. The influential Chairman of the State Government Committee, Senator Mike Folmer, was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography after uploading an image of an underage female…

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejects SORNA challenge

By Larry of NARSOL. . . In these consolidated appeals, Commonwealth v. Lacombe and Commonwealth v. Witmayer, the Commonwealth (state) challenged orders of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas relieving appellees Claude Lacombe and Michael Witmayer of their duties to comply with Subchapter I of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. To achieve its dual goals of ensuring public safety…

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