In August 2009, 51-year-old Homer Taylor III was charged with failing to register as a sex offender in Grays Harbor County, Washington.
Taylor went to trial in Grays Harbor County Circuit Court in February 2010 and chose to have his case decided by a judge without a jury. The prosecution presented evidence that Taylor pled guilty in 1988 to statutory rape and that on August 8, 2009, he was not registered as a sex offender even though he was living in the county.
On February 11, 2010, Grays Harbor County Circuit Court Judge Gordon Godfrey convicted Taylor of failing to register as a sex offender. Taylor was sentenced to 43 months in prison.
On appeal, Taylor’s lawyer said that Taylor should not have been required to register as a sex offender because the Washington State legislature repealed the statutory rape law in 1988.
The Appeals Court of Washington agreed in July 2011 and vacated Taylor’s conviction. The court held that the “legislative scheme for sex offender registration does not apply to crimes repealed after July 1, 1976. Taylor’s crime of conviction is no longer listed in the provision of the (sex offender registration act) defining ‘sex offense.’”
On September 12, 2011, the prosecution dismissed the charge.
– Maurice Possley
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