Sex Registry Challenge Cuts Penalty for Man, 19

Zachery Anderson, whose punishment for a teenage sexual encounter with a 14-year-old who lied about her age prompted a nationwide call to change sex offender registries, was granted a lighter sentence in a Michigan court on Monday, a court official and his lawyer said.

 

Mr. Anderson, who was 19 at the time of his offense last December, was sentenced on Monday to two years’ probation under the state’s Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, a special status for young offenders that a previous judge had denied him. Under the terms of his new sentence, issued by Judge Angela M. Pasula of Berrien County District Court, Mr. Anderson will not be required to join the sex offender registry in Michigan, and in a change from his original sentence, he will be allowed to use the Internet for schoolwork.

“Before he was on the sex offender list and he was a convicted felon,” said Scott Grabel, Mr. Anderson’s lawyer. “Now, as long as he successfully completes probation, nothing ever goes on the record in reference to this matter. This gives us significant closure in the case.”

The judge who issued Mr. Anderson’s original sentence, Dennis M. Wiley, had ordered him to serve 90 days in jail, join the Michigan sex offender registry list for 25 years and remain on probation for five years with no access to a smartphone or the Internet. Mr. Anderson was granted a new hearing after he and his parents protested that sentence.

At the time of his offense, Mr. Anderson was studying computer science at a community college in Indiana, where he lived with his parents. He met a girl on Hot or Not, a dating app, and they arranged for Mr. Anderson to pick her up at her house in Michigan, miles over the Indiana state line. They had sex at a playground and Mr. Anderson drove her home, where she discovered that her parents, concerned about her whereabouts, had called the police.

The girl had told Mr. Anderson that she was 17 but later admitted that she was only 14. Mr. Anderson, after being confronted by the police weeks later, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Both the girl and her mother appeared in a district court earlier this year to defend Mr. Anderson and ask the judge for leniency in the case.

For now, Mr. Anderson will remain on the sex offender registry in Indiana, where he lives. Mr. Grabel said he believed he would be able to successfully challenge that in court.

“It’s a relief,” said Lester Anderson, Mr. Anderson’s father. Under the special status for young offenders, he said, “You’re able to learn from your mistakes and move on with your life without the stigma of the conviction.”

Source: NY Times