Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB) Cases
There are are many factors SORB will consider when deciding your classification level, but the most important facts are usually the ones they don’t know yet.
I have over a decade of experience helping clients who are facing classification for the first time, seeking reclassification, or requesting termination of their duty to register.
SORB
Classification
Hearings
Reclassifications
and
Terminations
My Approach
Practice before the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB) is unique. Unlike your criminal case, we’re no longer working within a black and white system that has clear winners and losers. Instead, SORB’s job is to decide where on the spectrum of “low risk” (Level 1) to “high risk” (Level 3) you fall.
No two clients are exactly alike. But in every case, I’m guided by the same basic principles: contextualize, support, and explain.
We can’t change the past, and my clients are usually the first to acknowledge how much their past actions have hurt people, and they have no interest in making excuses for all the things they wish they could take back. I don’t make excuses for them either.
Instead, my job is to help you – once you’ve already been held accountable for what you’ve done and embarked on the path to rehabilitation – show SORB that labeling you as a dangerous sex offender is not going to advance our common goal of public safety.
Case Results
We filed a comprehensive motion and exhibits for a client who had been registering as a Level 2 sex offender for over 15 years, requesting that he no longer have to register. By putting in the extra effort at this early stage, SORB agreed to terminate the client’s duty to register without even holding a hearing, which kept the cost down for the client.
After a hearing SORB agreed that our client no longer posed a risk of reoffense, and our client went from being a Level 2 to having his registration obligation completely terminated.
Even after getting a reduction from a Level 3 to Level 2, this was a case where it made sense to keep going and file for judicial review. We won a preliminary injunction and our client’s information will not the internet while the case is in superior court.
Following an evidentiary hearing, SORB reduced our client from a Level 2 to a Level 1 and his personal information is no longer on the internet.
We retained an expert and filed a detailed motion requesting termination of our Level 2 client’s registration. Our motion was allowed prior to even holding a hearing which saved the client money.
What if I’m Innocent?
Most of my clients admit to committing a sex offense. But I also know that wrongful convictions can and do happen. It can be tricky navigating these cases with SORB, but over a decade of experience handling criminal appeals and overturning sex offense convictions through several successful motions for new trial has prepared me to deal with these challenging cases.
Sometimes while working on a SORB case for a client who maintains their innocence, I’ve uncovered serious errors that occurred in their criminal case. I’ve been able to share that information with those clients and either explore the possibility of filing a motion for new trial for them or referring them to the public defender’s office.