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By stan_sipple

Missouri Supreme Court nixes residency restrictions on sex offender who plead guilty to his crime before the effective date of Section 566.147 RS Mo. (2006). R.L., Respondent v. State of Missouri Department of Corrections, Appellant. : SC88644In December 2005, R.L. pleaded guilty to attempted enticement of a child. He received a three-year suspended execution of sentence, was placed on probation for five years, and was required to register as a sex offender. In June 2006, section 566.147, RSMo Supp. 2006, became effective. This law makes it a felony for those convicted of the crime to which R.L. pleaded guilty to reside within 1,000 feet of a school or child-care facility. R.L has lived at his current residence since 1997; a grade school within 1,000 of his residence was built in 1988. After the Missouri Department of Corrections informed R.L. that he was subject to prosecution if he did not move, he filed a petition for injunctive and declaratory relief. The circuit court declared that section 566.147 is an unconstitutional retrospective law with respect to R.L. and other similarly situated registered sex offenders. The department appeals. AFFIRMED. Court en banc holds: Section 566.147, as applied to R.L. and those similarly situated, violates the bar on retrospective laws set forth in article I, section 13 of the state constitution. Missouri has prohibited retrospective civil laws -- which create new obligations, impose new duties or attach new disabilities with respect to actions already past -- since it adopted its first constitution in 1820. In applying this constitutional principle, this Court has held that a law requiring registration as a sex offender for an offense that occurred prior to the registration law's effective date was an invalid retrospective law in violation of article I, section 13. Doe v. Phillips, 194 S.W.3d 833 (Mo. banc 2006). The same long-standing principles apply here, as the residency restrictions impose a new obligation on R.L. and those similarly situated by requiring them to change their place of residence based solely on offenses committed before the statute was enacted.

Full post as published by Showmeblawgs on March 02, 2008 (boomark / email).