Two young deaf men who pleaded no contest to charges of statutory rape are asking a Broward County judge to spare them from registering as sex offenders.
Their attorneys argue that it is overly harsh to brand Julio Calderon and Nikosan Keller as sex offenders. They also say that the law violates the Americans With Disabilities Act and pays no heed to the unique problems that some deaf people face.
They want Circuit Judge Susan Lebow to find that it would be unconstitutional and unfair to make the men register because of the circumstances of their crimes and the effect that registering would have on them.
"Julio and Niko are not the type of people that the legislature is attempting to protect the public from," said Charlie Kaplan, Calderon's attorney. "Labeling an already disabled person serves to only isolate and often vilify them."
