(Mt. Clemens, MI) A man whom a Macomb County judge described as “sexually delinquent” and ordered to register as a sex offender - and to tell police where he is living every three months - doesn’t have to register after all, according to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Cedric J. Simpson, 42, was convicted in 2009 of three counts of surveilling an unclothed person - essentially, being a “Peeping Tom.” He was sentenced by Judge Peter Maceroni to 360 days in jail, plus sex offender registration, and five years probation.
Simpson admitted to law enforcement authorities that he had “peeped” at semi-clothed or naked women two hundred to three hundred times without getting caught.
In July of 2008 he looked over the wall of a stall in a woman’s bathroom and masturbated while viewing a 20-year-old woman sitting on the toilet. The bathroom was located in the Macomb County Court Building, on the second floor, just two floors below the judge’s courtroom; the woman tried to run but Simpson grabbed her arm and briefly assaulted her before she broke free.
In appealing his conviction, Simpson claimed the judge had no legal basis for declaring him a sexual delinquent, and that only persons who have been charged and convicted of sexual delinquency can be ordered to register as sex offenders.
Registry of a person’s name on the State of Michigan’s sex offender list can last for up to 20 years, and allows the public to learn of the whereabouts of persons who are named on the list.
The Appeals Court reversed Judge Maceroni’s requirement, stating that “Although defendant’s extensive history of surveilling unclothed women in public restrooms is certainly offensive and disturbing, there was no legal authority for the circuit court to order defendant to register as a sex offender.”
A defendant convicted of that charge can only be required to register as a sexual offender if the victim is a minor, state law says, and none of Simpson’s victims were minors.
Judge Peter J. Maceroni made a mistake by declaring that Simpson was a sexual delinquent person, which compels a judge to require the defendant to register, merely based on his past and presentence report, the Appeals Court said: “Before a defendant may be convicted as a sexual delinquent person … he or she must be charged as a sexually delinquent,” adding: “Part of the state’s definition of a sexually delinquent person is someone “whose sexual behavior is characterized by repetitive or compulsive acts which indicate a disregard of consequences or the recognized rights of others.”
Simpson was released from prison in December 2010.
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