Thompson

*1427 Opinion

After a jury trial, Wesley Level Thompson was convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse and sodomy with a 17-year-old minor. Based on the sodomy conviction, the court found that defendant was subject to mandatory registration as a sex offender under Penal Code section 290. 1 Defendant contends, and the Attorney General concedes, that application of the mandatory registration statute to that offense would violate his federal and state constitutional rights to equal protection. We agree, and remand for the trial court to determine whether defendant is subject to discretionary registration under section 290.006, by virtue of his sodomy conviction and, if so, to exercise its discretion to determine whether defendant should be required to register under that provision.

I. BACKGROUND

By information filed in the Contra Costa County Superior Court, defendant was charged with unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (§ 261.5, subd. (a); count one) and two counts of sodomy with a minor (§ 286, subd. (b)(1); counts two & three).

At the time the alleged sexual acts occurred, defendant was 36 years old and the victim was 17 years old. According to the victim’s testimony, on…

I concur with the result. The significant issue presented here is whether statutorily mandatory imposition of Penal Code section 290 1 registration upon Mr. Thompson, a 36-year-old man who sodomized a 17-year-old developmentally disabled girl, meets constitutional muster. I agree with my colleagues that People v. Hofsheier 2 requires reversal, but note Justice Baxter’s cogent dissent in that case. 3

However, I remain troubled by the use of the term “voluntary” with reference to the sex act with a young person in this case and that in Hofsheier. The term “voluntary” does not appear in section 286, subdivision (b)(1) or any of the other similar sections set out for the protection of people of tender years from sexual predation. I respectfully suggest that the reason for the omission of that word or any like it is that the Legislature founds this body of law upon the ancient and hopefully still venerable notion that young people cannot be considered to have consented or volunteered to participate in such activity because of their want of years, experience, informed judgment, authority, and autonomy.

In the discussion of sexual crimes, the distinction between those accomplished by…

After a jury trial, Wesley Level Thompson was convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse and sodomy with a 17-year-old minor. Based on the sodomy conviction, the court found that defendant was subject to mandatory registration as a sex offender under Penal Code section 290. [1] Defendant contends, and the Attorney General concedes, that application of the mandatory registration statute to that offense would violate his federal and state constitutional rights to equal protection. We agree, and remand for the trial court to determine whether defendant is subject to discretionary registration under section 290.006, by virtue of his sodomy conviction and, if so, to exercise its discretion to determine whether defendant should be required to register under that provision.

By information filed in the Contra Costa County Superior Court, defendant was charged with unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (§ 261.5, subd. (a); count one) and two counts of sodomy with a minor (§ 286, subd. (b)(1); counts two & three).

At the time the alleged sexual acts occurred, defendant was 36 years old and the victim was 17 years old. According to the victim's testimony, on October 15,…