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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Photographing minor without parental consent |
Sentence: |
12 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
1 |
Year Crime: |
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Year Convicted: |
2014 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Wisconsin |
County or Region of Crime: |
Brown |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Christopher J. Oatman was wrongly convicted on February 17, 2014 of being a sex offender photographing a minor without parental consent under WIS. STAT. §948.14. Christopher Oatman took the photographs of children playing outside the front of his house. None of the photographs involved obscenity, child pornography, or nudity. The trial judge denied Oatman's pretrial motion to dismiss the charges based on the unconstitutionality of the statute. Oatman then entered a guilty plea based on the stipulated facts in which Oatman admitted taking the photographs in public, and the Brown County DA agreed that Oatman could appeal his conviction based on the constitutional issue. In May 2014 Oatman was sentenced as a habitual offender to 12 years in prison, 16 years of supervised release, and lifetime registration as a sex offender. Oatman appealed arguing that the statute was unconstitutional as applied and unconstitutionally overbroad. On September 22, 2015 the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reversed Oatman's convictions based on WIS. STAT. §948.14 being unconstitutionaly overbroad for criminalizing the taking of non-pornographic images of children in public, and remanded for dismissal of the charges. The Court ruled that convicted sex offenders have the same First Amendment right to take photographs of people in public as other citizens. It was reported in October 2016 that Oatman was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography as a repeat offender, based on a 2002 child sexual assault conviction that required him to register as a sex offender." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On September 22, 2015 the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reversed Oatman's convictions based on WIS. STAT. §948.14 being unconstitutionaly overbroad for criminalizing the taking of non-pornographic images of children in public, and remanded for dismissal of the charges." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
43 |
Age When Released: |
44 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"State v. Christopher J. Oatman, No. 2014AP002084-CR (WI Ct. of Appeals, 9-22-2015) (Vacating convictions and ordering dismissal of indictment)" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=149248 |
Information Source 2: |
"Appeals court strikes down law on taking pictures of kids, says law could endanger them, By Fox 11 News, Fox11online.com, September 22, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://fox11online.com/news/local/green-bay/appeals-court-strikes-down-law-on-taking-pictures-of-kids-says-law-could-endanger-them |
Information Source 3: |
"Green Bay sex offender with overturned conviction charged with child porn, By Ben Krumholz (Fox 11 News staff reporter), Fox 11-TV (Green Bay, Wis.), October 27, 2016" |
Information Location 3: |
http://fox11online.com/news/local/green-bay/green-bay-sex-offender-with-overturned-conviction-charged-with-child-porn |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org