BILLINGS, MT - (February 21, 2022) Last Friday, the ACLU of Montana, LAMBDA Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Center for HIV Law and Policy, filed an Amicus Brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that an individual should not be required to register as a sex offender for engaging in consensual same-sex activity. The brief argues that the ruling made by U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen on the case of Menges v. Knudsen, should be upheld and that Randall Menges should remain off Montana’s Sexual or Violent Offender Registry.
In this case, Mr. Menges was forced to join the Montana Sex Offender Registry after being convicted of having consensual sex in Idaho. Mr. Menges was charged in Idaho with “crimes against nature” — a criminal offense (since ruled unconstitutional) that historically had been used to criminalize sexual acts traditionally associated with same-sex intimacy. After Mr. Menges was released from a seven-year prison sentence he was placed on the sex-offender registry in Idaho and then in Montana, where he later moved. Since Mr. Menges was convicted, of these anti-LGBTQ laws, they have been found unconstitutional both here in Montana and in the United States. However, he is still being forced to register as a sex offender.
Last May, this case was decided in favor of Mr. Menges. Judge Christensen ordered that the state of Montana must “remove Menges from Montana’s Sexual or Violent Offender Registry; expunge all records indicating Menges was ever required to register; and alert all agencies, such as courts, police departments, sheriff’s departments, and the FBI, that Menges’ registration information is no longer valid.” Almost immediately after the ruling Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen filed an appeal to the 9th Circuit.
“Anti-LGBTQ laws have been deemed unconstitutional both by the Montana Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court,” said Alex Rate ACLU of Montana Legal Director. “Appealing the District Court's well-reasoned decision demonstrates the lack of respect that Attorney General Knudsen has for the law and the citizens of this state and country. For the past 20 years, Mr. Menges has repeatedly been forced to pay the consequences for an unconstitutional conviction and it is time to end this man's persecution.”
Link to Amicus Brief:
