In this appeal, the New Jersey Supreme Court was tasked with deciding whether N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(g), a Megan’s Law provision that bars certain sex offenders from applying under N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2(f) to terminate their registration as sex offenders, applied to a registrant who committed Megan’s Law offenses before the date on which subsection (g) became effective but was convicted and sentenced after its effective date. In 2002, the registrant was convicted of sexual offenses that occurred in 2001. The registrant was convicted in 2003 and ordered to adhere to Megan’s Law registration requirements and community supervision for life (“CSL”). In February 2019, the registrant filed a motion to terminate his registration and CSL requirements. The trial court denied the motion. The Appellate Division affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the relevant date for determining whether subsection (g) is effective as to a particular registrant is the date on which that registrant committed the sex offenses that would otherwise bar termination of registration under subsection (f). The Court ruled that “application of subsection (g) to registrants whose relevant predicate offenses predate that subsection’s enactment would be a retroactive application barred by our decision in In re Registrant G.H.“
