Case involving Sutton V Commonwealth 228 VA 654 (1985)

Case involving Sutton V Commonwealth 228 VA 654 (1985)

Opinion

Raymond Mynois Johnson ("Johnson") requests his conviction for malfunction to list as a sex lawbreaker, in violation of Code § 18.2-472.1.*fn1 Johnson contends that the test court erred in finding that his former convictions in North Carolina needed him to list as a sex lawbreaker in Virginia. Specifically, Johnson argues that the North Carolina misdeeds of aiding and abetting a second-degree rape and aiding and abetting a second-degree sex infringement are not considerably alike to any corresponding Virginia misdeeds as delineated in Code § 9.1-902.

 

Background

In 1995, Johnson was convicted in North Carolina of aiding and abetting a second-degree rape and aiding and abetting a second-degree sex offense. He was punished to 20 (20) years in prison. Other than incarceration, the test court did not location any other limits, prohibitions, or obligations on Johnson. Johnson was issued from jail in 2003 and subsequently shifted to Virginia.

Facts

At test, Johnson contended that no Virginia statute was "substantially similar" to the North Carolina statutes under which he was convicted, thus he was not needed to list under Code § 9.1-902. The test court contradicted and discovered that the corresponding Virginia statutes were considerably alike to those under which Johnson was convicted.

Issue Statement

Johnson was subsequently convicted of malfunction to list as a sex lawbreaker and punished to five years, with three years and six months suspended.

 

Procedural Posture: Lower Courts opinion

The topic on apply is if Johnson was needed to list as a sex lawbreaker under Code § 9.1-902. Johnson contends that the North Carolina statute under which he was convicted is not so "substantially similar" to the Virginia statutes as to need registration and that Virginia regulation does not need persons convicted as principals in the second stage to list as sex offenders.

Johnson contends, and the Commonwealth does not contradict, that of the three attenuating components under which one is needed to list as a sex lawbreaker, there are two that are not at topic here. The first is if one is convicted in Virginia of a misdeed delineated in Code § 9.1-902; the second is if one is convicted of any infringement for which registration in a sex lawbreaker and misdeeds contrary to minors registry is needed under the regulations of the jurisdiction where the lawbreaker was convicted. See Code § 9.1-902. We agree.

Thus, Johnson focuses his contention on the residual circumstance under which one is needed to list as a sex lawbreaker in Virginia: a conviction in another state of an infringement alike to an infringement needing registration in Virginia. Johnson's contention relies very powerfully upon the dialect of Code §§ 9.1-902(A)*fn2 and 18.2-472.1.

 

Similar v. Substantially Similar

Johnson contends that, in alignment to be convicted under Code § 18.2-472.1, the North Carolina statutes under which he was convicted, should be "substantially similar" to the corresponding Virginia statute which needs registration under the Act. The Commonwealth, on the other hand, argues that the dialect of Code § ...