Notable new California appellate ruling about sex offender registration and trial rights

I just get an e-mail from a friendly readers forwarding me a new California Court of Appeal case which "finds that the residency restrictions in California's sex offender registration law are "punishment" for Apprendi purposes."  This notable new ruling comes in People v. Mosley, No. (Cal. App. 4th Dist. Nov. 19, 2008) (available for download below), and here is how the opinion begins:

This appeal sits at the intersection of two topical, controversial legal issues: sex offender registration and the right to a jury trial.  The Legislature and the voters have drastically expanded the reach and ramifications of sex offender registration in recent years, culminating in “The Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act: Jessica’s Law” (Jessica’s Law), approved in 2006 as Proposition 83.1  The United States Supreme Court has revitalized the right to a jury trial over the same period, culminating in decisions striking down the federal sentencing guidelines in 2005 and California’s determinate sentencing law (DSL) in 2007.  Juries, not judges, must determine any additional facts necessary to impose punishment beyond that otherwise provided by statute based solely on the jury’s verdict....

In this anomalous case — where the jury acquitted defendant of any sexual offense, but the court subjected defendant to the residency restriction by requiring sex offender registration based on its own fact-finding — we affirm defendant’s conviction on the underlying offense, misdemeanor assault.  But we must reverse the imposition of the registration requirement.  We modify the judgment by striking the sex offender registration requirement and affirm the judgment as modified.

Download cal_sex_offender_ruling.pdf