Posted at 4:22 p.m., Wednesday, November 21, 2001

Supreme Court strikes down sex offender registration law

Advertiser Staff

The Hawai'i Supreme Court today invalidated the sex offender registration and notification law, saying one of its provisions violates the state constitution.

The court ruled it is unconstitutional to require public notification of a defendant's status as a convicted sex offender without giving the defendant a chance to argue whether or not he represents a danger to society.

The public notification provision of the law, patterned after the so-called Megan's Law, lacks procedural safeguards, the court said.

The case was brought before the court by Eto Bani, who pled no contest to the charge of sexual assault in the fourth degree i n xx. He was ordered to register as a sex offender, but he appealed.

The court said its decision is based soley on the section in the state consteitution that guarantees due process of law.

It said he passed no judgment on Bani's other constitutional claims.

The decision was written by Justice Mario Ramil and signed by fellow justices Steven Levinson, Paula Nakayama and Rey Graulty and Chief Justice Ron Moon.