OK Supreme Court Ruling Gets Out-Of-State Sex Offenders Off Registry

Hundreds of convicted sex offenders are no longer having to register in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled this week that state corrections officials have been violating the constitution by applying the state's sex offender registration act unequally.

"They shouldn't have to register," James Lattimore has spent a lot of time thinking about this. "Especially, if they served their time, did what they are supposed to do."

Lattimore speaks from experience as a registered sex offender. He is one of more than 7,000 sex offenders on the state registry, but not for long. Lattimore and hundreds of others will no longer have to register because they were convicted out of state and before 2005.

"That does not make me happy," the ruling is concerning to parents like Patt Pettit. "Sex offenders, in my opinion, should have to be registered no matter where they are from and when they became one."

Sex crime attorney David Slane argues the DOC has not been applying the law correctly and that the latest Supreme Court ruling proves that.

"They did not write it in a way for Oklahoma to be a haven for sex offenders. What they are saying is, whatever the law was when you came to Oklahoma, then that's the law you are going to have to comply with," said Slane.

Slane has filed more than 450 lawsuits against the DOC on behalf of sex offenders like Lattimore. Lattimore is relieved to hear the ruling.

"It's a big weight off my shoulders," Lattimore said.

The Department of Corrections declined to comment on the court ruling and could not give a specific number of offenders that would be impacted.

This is the second time in two months the Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled that the DOC applied the sex offender law unconstitutionally.