Commonwealth v. Daughtery
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The Supreme Court reversed the opinion of the court of appeals rejecting the trial court's conclusion that Defendant was not required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) but nevertheless affirming the judgment, holding that Defendant qualified for lifetime SORA registration for his crimes.
Defendant pleaded guilty to three felony counts of distributing child pornography. At sentencing, the trial court found, in contrary to the Commonwealth's argument, that Defendant was not required to become a SORA registrant because his crimes were not sex crimes. The court of appeals affirmed, holding (1) SORA requires those who have committed crimes against minors, such as Defendant, to register; but (2) Defendant's three felony convictions exempted him from SORA because his convictions were each charged as first-offense crimes against a minor and all three convictions arose from a single course of conduct. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Defendant must register under SORA for his lifetime because he was convicted of multiple offenses defined as a crime against a minor.
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