Sex offender claims Web registry is unconstitutional

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

Mary Richards reportingA convicted sex offender feels Utah's Web registry is unconstitutional. It's something the Utah Supreme Court will decide.

Steven Arthur Briggs was convicted of sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl, but he says being on Utah's sex offender registry doesn't let him defend himself.

His lawyer told the Utah Supreme Court on Wednesday that the registry violates due process rights, and some justices did say the implication of being on the registry could be worse than the offense.

But the state argues it publishes the truth on the registry so the public can decide what to do with the information.

The court should issue an opinion in the coming months.

E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com