In the case of Commonwealth v. Johnson, the defendant completed his Massachusetts sentence and is not on parole or probation. He is, however, currently incarcerated in Florida for failing to register as a sex offender, as required as a result of his conviction here. The BBA’s brief focuses exclusively on citing analogous recent rulings from the SJC and elsewhere, to argue that his liberty is “otherwise restrained” where his sex-offender registration requirements create affirmative burdens that are tantamount to the conditions placed on probationers and parolees, with the same potential of immediate arrest and incarceration for failure to comply.
