Man pleads guilty to threatening Madigan over sex offender listi - Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29

A convicted sex offender was sentenced to prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to threatening Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan in court briefs filed when he tried to have provisions of the state Sex Offender Registry overturned.

Maurice Pennington Sr., 56, of the 10300 block of South Indiana Avenue, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one felony count of threatening a public official, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's office. Judge James Obbish then sentenced him to two years in prison.

Pennington, who also goes by the name Demetrious P. Moore, was convicted of rape and sexually deviant conduct in Illinois in 1982, according to court records at the time of his arrest in September 2011. He was later convicted of criminal sexual abuse of a victim age 9-16 in Texas, according to the Sex Offender Registry. Pennington was 46 at the time and the victim was a 14-year-old girl, according to the registry.

When he returned to Illinois, he was placed on the registry of sex offenders, attorney general's office spokeswoman Natalie Bauer said at the time of his arrest.

That placement prompted a lawsuit, she said. "He was questioning the constitutionality of the sex offender registry."

When the registry was upheld in court, Pennington filed an appeal with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Bauer said. And in briefs filed as part of that appeal, he threatened to kill Madigan, Chicago Police officers and Illinois State Police troopers, prosecutors claimed.

When he was arrested, Pennington admitted he was unhappy with the registry, comparing it to slavery laws, according to court records.