IN THE INTEREST OF J.T., Minor Child, J.T., Minor Child, Appellant.
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 9-330 / 08-1176
Filed May 29, 2009
IN THE INTEREST OF J.T., Minor Child,
J.T., Minor Child,
Appellant.
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Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Washington County, Lucy J.
Gamon, District Associate Judge.
A minor appeals from the order requiring him to register as a sex offender.
AFFIRMED.
Jeffrey L. Powell of Tindal Law Office, P.L.C., Washington, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Bruce Kempkes, Assistant Attorney
General, Barbara A. Edmondson, County Attorney, and Wyatt Peterson,
Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Vogel and Miller, JJ.
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SACKETT, C.J.
J.T. appeals, contending the juvenile court abused its discretion in
requiring him to register as a sex offender. We affirm.
BACKGROUND AND PROCEEDINGS. J.T. was born in May of 1990. At
age thirteen he forced his seven-year-old cousin to perform oral sex on him and
admitted to committing various less serious offenses on three children between
the age of five and ten.
J.T. was found to be a delinquent on the basis of
indecent exposure under Iowa Code 709.9 and assault with the intent to commit
sexual abuse under Iowa Code section 709.11 (2003). He received extensive
services including sexual offender treatment, being for a time in a residential
program and then in therapeutic foster home.
Just before J.T.’s eighteenth birthday the juvenile court held a hearing to
determine whether J.T. should be listed on the Sex Offender Registry. See Iowa
Code § 692A.2 (2007). The juvenile court entered an order finding J.T. should
register. The court found J.T. often excelled in school, was musically talented,
and had been active in his church. The court noted T.J. had set educational
goals for himself and hoped to attend a community college and then continue his
education with the goal of becoming a college music professor. The court further
noted J.T. had demonstrated a willingness to rehabilitate himself in completing a
sex offender treatment program and aftercare, had not committed any new
sexual offenses, and J.T. showed remorse for the offenses and there were other
factors that militated against requiring J.T. to register—namely strong family
support from his parents, aunt, and grandmother, as well as his faith community.
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The court noted therapist Byron Allmandinger, who had not met with J.T.
since J.T. left inpatient treatment, identified J.T.’s risk to reoffend as lowmoderate to moderate as a result of a March 2008 evaluation. The juvenile court
considered and gave weight to the fact that the juvenile court officer who had
worked with J.T.’s for some time was of the opinion J.T. should register because
of the offenses he committed, the number of his victims, the force used against
his victims, J.T.’ slow progress in sex offender treatment, the fact J.T. had to
remain in a foster home, the incidents that have occurred since he was released
from treatment, and his secretiveness with those who know him well.
The juvenile court determined that there is a serious risk that J.T. will
reoffend, as he does not always use his relapse prevention plan, he acts
impulsively, and he is not always forthcoming. The court ordered that J.T. should
be required to register as a sex offender.
SCOPE OF REVIEW.
A juvenile court’s decision that a sex offender
should be required to register, like all juvenile proceedings, is reviewed de novo.
In re A.M.H., 516 N.W.2d 867, 870 (Iowa 1994). We review the entire record to
decide if the juvenile court abused its discretion in refusing to excuse J.T. from
the mandatory registration requirement of Iowa Code section 692A.2(1).
The statute begins with the general requirement that all offenders in the
specified group of crimes be required to register, but it allows a juvenile court to
excuse registration in some cases according to its discretion. In re S.M.M., 558
N.W.2d 405, 407 (Iowa 1997). The statute is a regulating or remedial statute and
not punitive.
See id.
The burden is on J.T. to prove he is entitled to an
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exception. See id. In general, an abuse of discretion occurs only when the
discretion was exercised on grounds or for reasons clearly untenable or to an
extent clearly unreasonable. State v. Atley, 564 N.W.2d 817, 830 (Iowa 1997).
J.T.’s argument is that the juvenile court should have given greater weight
to Almandinger’s opinion that T.J. presents a low-to-moderate risk to reoffend,
noting his opinion was based on an ERASOR test given about two months before
the registration hearing.
He argues that the court should have given less
credibility to therapist Melissa Rogers, for her contact with T.J. was limited to less
than thirty half-hour sessions over the course of two years. Rogers testified it
was her opinion that J.T. should register.
The State contends J.T. has not overcome the presumption for registration
or established a good cause against his registration and requests that the
juvenile court be affirmed. The State argues that the juvenile court’s decision
agreeing with the recommendations of the State, the juvenile court office, J.T.’s
therapist for the last two years, J.T.’s foster mother, and his father should be
affirmed. It notes that J.T. has a strong interest in sex and little respect for the
rights of others. He viewed adult videotapes with his younger brother and viewed
pornography on the Internet despite his parents disciplining him.
The State
further advances that J.T. repeatedly forced his younger cousin to engage in oral
sex and watch him masturbate. The State further points to J.T.’s inappropriate
behaviors with other smaller children. The State argues J.T.’s has had extensive
services, resisted treatment, was not honest in working with the sex offender
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program, and only when he became worried about being transferred to the State
Boys’ Training School did he cooperate with services.
The State also argues that J.T.’s current therapist essentially agreed with
the recommendations of the juvenile court officer, as does J.T.’s father, who
emphasized that J.T. offers excuses for any inappropriate behavior and that he
will pose a threat to teenagers as well a younger boys if he lives in a community
without supervision. The juvenile court did not abuse its discretion.
AFFIRMED.
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