No registration needed for some Mo. sex offenders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri judge said a federal sex offender registration requirement cannot apply to a person who received a suspended sentence.

The ruling was made Friday by Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan.

The person in the current case pleaded guilty to a sexual abuse charge in 1992 and received a suspended imposition of sentence.

Callahan said the person does not have to follow a 2006 federal registration law because it applies only to convicted sex offenders -- and state law does not treat a suspended sentence as a conviction.