Megan's Law, Step-Grandpa — deal with it

The Court of Appeal of the Fourth Appellate District has upheld a Superior Court decision stating that a step-grandparent cannot get exclusion from a Megan's Law website.

In May of 2009, Terrence Lee Yohner was convicted of one count of committing a lewd act upon a child under 14. According to the probation officer's report, between 2006 and 2007, Yohner repeatedly molested his then-8-year-old step-granddaughter, the daughter of Yohner's stepdaughter. Yohner was placed on four years of probation and served a year in custody of the sheriff.

In 2013, Yohner filed a petition for writ of mandate requesting that Superior Court direct that he be excluded from the Megan's law website. When certain criteria are met, a victim's parent, step-parent, sibling, or grandparent may receive an exclusion from the website. Yohner's lawyers argued that a step-grandparent should, in effect, be considered a grandparent.

The Superior Court disagreed. So did the appellate court. The appellate ruling was on May 22.