Skip navigation
× You have 2 more free articles available this month. Subscribe today.

Texas Parolee Challenges His Designation as Sex Offender

On September 3, 2002, Texas parolee Miller Branch, Jr., filed an amended civil rights complaint in federal district court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging his designation as a "sex offender" by parole officials and the requirement that he register as a sex offender and attend sex offender therapy despite never being convicted of a sex offense.

Branch was charged with aggravated sexual assault. The jury deadlocked at his trial. Subsequently, he accepted a plea bargain to a charge of aggravated assault and the aggravated sexual assault charge was dropped. Four months after he was released from prison on mandatory supervision, parole officials changed the conditions of his release to include special sex offender conditions requiring him to: (1) register as a sex offender; (2) restrict his travel; (3) limit his exposure to minors and dating; (4) attend and pay for sex offender counseling at a cost of around $20 a week; (5) pay for and submit to polygraph examination at a cost of around $200 each; and (5) allow his name, address, photograph and description to be published on a state-run website. At one point, Branch refused to pay for a polygraph and was jailed for several months, costing him his job.

Branch alleged that the parole restrictions deprived him of liberty and property without due process, violated his right to a jury trial, constituted as defamation, and were ex post facto. He sought injunctive and declaratory relief as well as monetary compensation. He was represented by Dallas attorney Bruce Anton and Norman, Oklahoma attorneys Carrie Sperling and Mary Margaret Penrose.

See: Branch v. Collier, U.S.D.C.-N.D.Tex., No. 3:02-CV-21-L

As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login

Related legal case

Branch v. Collier