LANSING, MICH. (THECOUNT) — More than 20,000 people have been removed from Michigan’s public sex offender registry following a Michigan Supreme Court ruling on the retroactive application of the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act, and convicted sex offender Larry Nassar is among those no longer appearing in the database.
The Michigan State Police began removing the names after the state’s highest court ruled Sept. 9 that Michigan’s current registration requirements cannot be applied to people whose qualifying criminal offenses occurred before July 1, 2011.
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At the time of the ruling, approximately 43,000 people were actively registered or required to register in Michigan. State police said more than 20,000 had been removed as of Sept. 11, with the number subject to change as the agency continued reviewing the registry.
The court’s ruling did not erase or invalidate the underlying criminal convictions of the people removed from the registry. Michigan State Police said those convictions may still appear in court records, prosecutor files, police reports and criminal histories.
Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician who was convicted of sexually abusing numerous female athletes, is among the high-profile names affected by the ruling. A search of Michigan’s public sex offender registry no longer returns his name.
Nassar served as a team doctor for USA Gymnastics and as a physician at Michigan State University. His criminal conduct involving athletes occurred before 2011, although his convictions came later.
The Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office publicly criticized the impact of the ruling, saying the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate registration requirements for people covered by the ruling was concerning.
Prosecutors also said the court could have selected a different remedy that would have allowed certain offenders to remain registered while addressing the constitutional issues surrounding the law’s retroactive application.
The case stems from constitutional restrictions against ex post facto laws, which prohibit government from imposing a new or greater punishment for conduct that occurred before the change in law.
Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act was amended in 2011 and again in 2021. The Michigan Supreme Court determined that applying the newer registration requirements to people whose qualifying offenses occurred before July 1, 2011 amounted to an unconstitutional retroactive punishment.
The court’s order followed earlier litigation over Michigan’s registry. In its ruling, the court concluded that the 2021 SORA could not be retroactively applied to people whose criminal acts subjecting them to registration occurred before the 2011 amendments.
Michigan State Police said the agency did not make the legal change and is required to comply with the court’s order because it maintains the state’s sex offender registry.
The public registry typically provides identifying information about people required to register, including their legal name, photograph, primary address, employment information, age and physical description, along with information about the court handling the relevant conviction.
The registry removals do not mean that the affected individuals were found innocent or that their criminal records were expunged. Rather, the individuals were removed from the public registry because the state Supreme Court determined that the current registration requirements could not legally be imposed retroactively for offenses committed before July 1, 2011.
The Michigan State Police has said that concerns about individuals who may have been removed in error can be reported to the agency’s Sex Offender Registry Unit or to local law enforcement. At least one Michigan county prosecutor’s office has separately reported identifying cases it believes may have been removed from the registry in error.
The Supreme Court’s decision has therefore produced a significant change in Michigan’s public registry while leaving the underlying convictions of affected offenders intact. Any legislative response to the ruling would be up to the Michigan Legislature.
Lansing is the capital of Michigan and is located primarily in Ingham County in the central part of the Lower Peninsula, roughly 90 miles northwest of Detroit and about 65 miles east of Grand Rapids.
Google Maps: Lansing, Michigan
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