Out-of-state sex offenders can challenge registration requirement, court rules • New Jersey Monitor

Authorities must weigh whether a sex offender convicted in other states committed a crime similar to a Megan’s Law offense before forcing them to register under the law in New Jersey, an appellate court found Monday.

The ruling, which ordered two cases in Secaucus and Union City dismissed and reversed a conviction in the Secaucus case, says authorities in both cases failed to perform an analysis required by law before charging the two men with failing to notify authorities that they had moved.

“Indicting defendants before affording them the opportunity to challenge whether their out-of-state conviction is similar to a New Jersey Megan’s Law crime offends principles of due process and the statute itself,” Judge Morris Smith wrote for the three-judge panel.

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State law requires individuals convicted of sex offenses in another state to register under Megan’s Law if they relocate to New Jersey, but the law contains a due process requirement that mandates authorities determine whether the law the person was convicted under is similar to a Megan’s Law offense.

That determination can be challenged in court once it is made but before charges are filed, the court said. The two men subject to the appeal were not provided that opportunity, the court found.

Union City police charged Shaquan Gregg with failing to register after learning he was convicted for sexually assaulting a toddler and child in South Carolina during an interrogation over an unrelated charges.

Secaucus police likewise discovered Norman Millner had been convicted for a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old in New York during an interrogation over unrelated charges.

In both cases, the court said, authorities did not perform the analysis to determine whether equivalent New Jersey offenses would require registration under Megan’s Law before issuing charges.

“It is clear that the State must complete this analysis to establish an out-of-state offender’s obligation to register in New Jersey, prior to indictment, regardless of the circumstances under which the individual is detected,” Smith wrote.