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Patterson v. State7/23/1999
Michael R. Patterson was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor in 1988. Based on that conviction, the Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act "ASORA" requires Patterson to periodically register with the nearest police authority. An Alaska State Trooper issued Patterson a citation to appear in district court for failing to register as a sex offender because Patterson had not registered with either the state or local police.
After Superior Court Judge Jonathan H. Link denied Patterson's multi-prong attack on the constitutionality of ASORA, Patterson entered a Cooksey plea to the charge of failing to register. He renews his constitutional challenges in this appeal.
Because Patterson has not convinced us that there is a constitutional bar to prosecuting him for failing to register as a sex offender, we affirm his conviction.
Facts and proceedings
In 1994, the Alaska Legislature enacted ASORA. ASORA was codified in Title 12, chapter 63 and Title 18, chapter 65, section 87 of the Alaska Statutes.
Alaska Statute 12.63.010(b)(1) requires a convicted sex offender to register at the Alaska State Trooper post or municipal police department nearest to where the sex offender resides at the time of registration. A registrant must allow the police to take a set of fingerprints and a photograph, and must provide biographical information including his or her name, address, date of birth, driver's license number, aliases, place of employment, and date and court of his or her sex-offense conviction. In addition, the sex offender must provide written notice within ten days of a change of residence to the nearest law enforcement office.
If the sex offender has one conviction, he or she must register annually for the fifteen years following his or her unconditional discharge from supervision. If the sex offender has two or more sex offense convictions, the duty to register continues for life. The duty to register applies retroactively, requiring sex offenders who received an unconditional discharge before enactment of the law to register. Patterson was unconditionally discharged before the enactment of ASORA.
Alaska Statute 18.65.087 directs the Department of Public Safety to create a registry of all registered sex offenders and to permit public access to that registry. For each sex offender, the registry includes the offender's biographical information that ASORA requires the offender to provide upon registration. Upon request, this information is released to any member of the public.
On March 14, 1996, an Alaska State Trooper reviewed ASORA computer records and found that Patterson failed to register. A trooper contacted Patterson to ask why he had not registered. Patterson told the trooper that his attorney had advised him not to comply with the registration requirement. The trooper served Patterson with a citation charging him with failing to register as a sex offender.
In the trial court, Judge Link denied Patterson's motion to dismiss. Patterson renews his constitutional objections to ASORA in this appeal.
Discussion
The duty to register under ASORA does not violate the prohibition against ex post facto legislation.
Patterson argues that ASORA violates the prohibition against ex post facto legislation contained in both the federal and Alaska constitutions. Both constitutions prohibit "the retrospective application of laws that 'alter the definition of crimes or increase the punishment for criminal acts.'" ASORA is clearly retrospective. However, " he mere fact that [a statute] alters a convicted felon's circumstances to his or her disa
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