LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — A 2018 conviction of a man for failing to register as a sex offender in Washington state was overturned, an appeals court ruled.
The state Court of Appeals overturned the conviction Tuesday, citing recent law changes, the Longview Daily News reported.
Bradley Lewis Reynolds, 49, was convicted of sexual misconduct in Oregon in 1990 and was required to register as a sex offender, but later moved to Washington state, authorities said.
Reynolds was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender five times in Washington state in 2005, 2008, 2014, 2017 and 2018, prosecutors said.
Reynolds was sentenced to 30 months in prison and six years’ probation in the 2018 case, prosecutors said.
He was required under Washington state law to register as a sex offender in the state even though the conviction took place in Oregon, but an appeals court ruled the law was unconstitutional in 2019.
“The Legislature cannot delegate to another entity the ability to determine what constitutes a crime in Washington,” appeals court judges said.
The law only refers to the definition of “sex offender,” not the actual law around who has to register, said Appeals Court Judge Rich Melnick, who filed the lone dissenting opinion.