Supreme Court: Law is not retroactive

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Sex offenders in Ohio cannot be subjected to stricter monitoring of their whereabouts if they committed their crimes before a 2007 state law imposing the new requirements took effect, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The decision marked the latest instance of the state’s highest court scaling back Ohio’s first-in-the-nation adoption of a tougher federal registration system for sex offenders.

The court ruled a year ago that sex offenders who had been sentenced under an earlier, less stringent notification law could not be reclassified to fall under the new statute.

Wednesday’s 5-2 ruling reversed a lower court’s decision.

The law was written so it could be imposed in sentences on or after July 1, 2007, regardless of when the crime took place, but the justices said that violated a constitutional prohibition against retroactive laws.

“The General Assembly has the authority, indeed the obligation, to protect the public from sex offenders,” said Justice Paul Pfeifer, writing for the majority. “It may not, however, consistent with the Ohio Constitution, ‘impose new or additional burdens, duties, obligations, or liabilities as to a past transaction.’”

Ohio was the first state to substantially put in place a new sex-offender registration and notification system required by the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

The 2006 law is named for a 6-year-old and whose father, John Walsh, became the host of the long-running TV series “America’s Most Wanted,” which publicized crimes and helped authorities catch criminals.

The federal law, signed by former President George W. Bush, sought to get states to better coordinate and expand their sex-offender registries.

The state Supreme Court decision came in the case of a man from southwest Ohio’s Warren County convicted in December 2007 of engaging in sexual conduct with a minor, a crime the court said occurred before July 1, 2007.

Under the Ohio Adam Walsh law, he was required to register with the sheriff in his county of residence, and in any other county in which he worked or attended school, every 180 days for 25 years. The court found he should have been subject to an earlier, less stringent law.

The decision follows a June 2010 ruling from the high court that said sex offenders classified by judges before the law went into effect must keep the classifications they received under the old Megan’s Law — and potentially be subject to looser registration and notification requirements.

In March 2010, the court ruled that sex offenders classified in the Adam Walsh law’s most dangerous category could still avoid the new community reporting requirements under exceptions similar to those in the old Ohio statute.