Court: Law applied to convicted sex offenders violates constitution
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 09:28 AM
The Columbus Dispatch
The legislature's attempt four years ago to apply a new law to already-convicted sexual offenders violated the Ohio Constitution, the state Supreme Court ruled today.Imposing enhanced registration and community notification requirements in the 2007 Ohio Adam Walsh Act against defendants whose crimes were committed before the effective date of that law violates a constitutional prohibition on the General Assembly enacting retroactive laws, the justices declared.
The 5-2 decision, which reversed a ruling by the 12th District Court of Appeals, was written by Justice Paul E. Pfeifer.
"The General Assembly has the authority, indeed the obligation, to protect the public from sex offenders," Pfeifer said. "It may not, however, consistent with the Ohio Constitution, 'impose new or additional burdens, duties, obligations, or liabilities as to a past transaction.' "
Joining the majority opinion were Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor and Justices Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Judith Ann Lanzinger and Yvette McGee Brown.
Justice Terrence O'Donnell authored the dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justice Robert R. Cupp.
O'Donnell cited several previous decisions in which the Supreme Court decreed that sex offender registration and community notification requirements are not criminal sanctions intended to punish offenders, and thus the Constitution's ban on retroactive application does not apply.
"The Ohio General Assembly has adopted legislation in accordance with legislation enacted by the United States Congress in an effort to create a national, uniform system of sex-offender registration," he said. "Our long-standing precedent recognizes the legislature's authority to make policy decisions for reasons of public safety and public welfare.
"Moreover, having considered the constitutionality of prior sex-offender-registration statutes, this court has consistently held both that those statutes constitute a civil regulatory scheme designed to protect the public from known sex offenders and that the statutes may be retroactively applied to individuals who have committed sexually oriented offenses in the past."
O'Donnell said the ruling is "out of sync" with federal court decisions upholding actions similar to those taken by the legislature.
Ohio has more than 25,000 registered sex offenders. It was not immediately clear how many would be affected by the new ruling.
Today's decision came on the appeal of George Williams of Warren County, convicted in December 2007 for engaging in sexual conduct with a minor an offense that occurred before the Adam Walsh Act took effect. Williams asked the judge to sentence him under the previous sex offender classification setup, known as Megan's Law.
The judge rejected that motion and classified him under the more stringent Adam Walsh Act as a Tier II offender, which required him to register with the sheriff in his home county and in any other county in which he worked or attended school, every 180 days for the ensuing 25 years.
Williams appealed, but was turned down by the 12th District Court of Appeals.
Pfeifer noted that in earlier Supreme Court decisions on previous changes in the sex offender law, justices upheld the changes because they were more remedial than punitive, and thus the constitutional ban on retroactive laws did not apply. But the changes in the Adam Walsh Act made them punitive, and therefore unconstitutional.
READ THE OPINION HERE
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