A-0436-24/A-2145-24 – STATE OF THE JERSEY VS. NORMAN MILLNER/STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. SHAQUAN M. GREGG (24-01-0095 AND 24-08-1097) (CONSOLIDATED) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) - Unpublished
Defendants, Gregg and Millner, appeal the trial court's denial of their motions to dismiss indictments for failure to register as a sex offender, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(c)(3) and (a)(3), respectively.
Both defendants relocated to New Jersey from other states where they were convicted of sex crimes and had to register in those states as sex offenders. Defendants did not register in New Jersey when they relocated here. They were arrested here on unrelated charges, and police then discovered defendants' obligation to register as sex offenders in their former states. They were charged with failure to register.
In separate grand jury proceedings, the State had to show some evidence of each element of the crime of failure to register under N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2: (1) defendants were required to register in New Jersey, and (2) defendants knowingly failed to register. Among other things, the State told grand jurors that defendants were obligated to register as sex offenders in their former states, and that this status alone created a duty to register as a sex offender in New Jersey. The two grand juries indicted defendants for failure to register.
Defendants moved to dismiss the indictments, arguing the State failed to meet its burden to show some evidence on each element of the crime of failure to register. Defendants argued that N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(b)(3) required the State to make a preliminary finding that an out-of-state sex offender's crime is "similar to" a New Jersey Megan's Law offense before charging that offender with failing to register in New Jersey. Denying the motions to dismiss, the trial court found the State met its burden because the State established the "similar to" analysis would have been satisfied had it been completed. The trial court also determined that defendants' awareness of their obligation to register in their former states constituted a knowing failure to register in New Jersey.
On appeal, the court reviewed N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2, including subsections (a)(3), (b)(3) and (c)(3), and found that an out-of-state sex offender's requirement to register in the state where they have been convicted does not, by operation of law, eliminate the Legislature's clear due process mandate in N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(b)(3). The court concluded that the Legislature expressly declared that the State's obligation to perform a "similar to" analysis is required prior to filing a failure to register charge under N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(b)(3). As a result, the court reversed the trial court's orders and remanded for further proceedings.