By Zach Gorchow
Gongwer News Service
Persons convicted of offenses requiring them to register as sex offenders prior to 2006 and 2011 changes to the Sex Offender Registration Act do not have to comply with those changes, the Michigan Supreme Court unanimously ruled Friday.
In 2021, the Supreme Court in People v. Betts ruled that imposing the requirements enacted in 2011 on people convicted between 1994, when the law was enacted, and those changes, was an unconstitutional ex post facto punishment.
The 2011 changes classified offenders into three tiers with longer registration periods for certain offenses and lifetime registration for Tier III offenses with classifications made available to the public. New reporting requirements were added for offenders and the window for offenders to notify law enforcement of a change in address shortened from 10 to three days, among other changes.
After the Betts decision, the State Appellate Defender Office created the SORA Project to work with registered persons to vacate any convictions related to failure to comply with the now struck down 2011 requirements. An attorney was appointed to represent Gary Shaver, who was adjudicated or found guilty of three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and sentenced as a juvenile.
Upon release from the Maxey Boys Training School in 2009, Shaver was convicted in 2010 of failure to comply with registration requirements. Then the 2011 SORA went into effect, shortening the address change notification requirement from 10 to three days.
In 2015, Shaver notified law enforcement and updated his address to a new home where he was moving. The tenant, however, stayed in the dwelling beyond the date when Shaver was to move in. This led to Shaver’s registered address being wrong for 19 days. The Tuscola County prosecutor charged him with violating the 2011 SORA.
Shaver pleaded guilty to a second offense as a fourth-offense habitual offender. He was sentenced to six months in jail.
In 2022, Shaver moved for relief, asking the Tuscola Circuit Court to apply the Betts ruling and vacate his 2015 conviction. The court granted his motion but without first allowing the prosecution an opportunity to respond to the motion.
The prosecutor appealed, and the Court of Appeals reversed in a published opinion, saying the prosecution should have been given time to respond to the motion. Critically, the court also ruled Betts did not apply retroactively.
In a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Megan Cavanagh, the Supreme Court ruled that Betts does apply retroactively, reversing the appeals court.
Betts was a substantive new rule and thus applies retroactively, Cavanagh wrote in People v. Shaver (SC Docket No. 167736).
Gongwer News Service
Persons convicted of offenses requiring them to register as sex offenders prior to 2006 and 2011 changes to the Sex Offender Registration Act do not have to comply with those changes, the Michigan Supreme Court unanimously ruled Friday.
In 2021, the Supreme Court in People v. Betts ruled that imposing the requirements enacted in 2011 on people convicted between 1994, when the law was enacted, and those changes, was an unconstitutional ex post facto punishment.
The 2011 changes classified offenders into three tiers with longer registration periods for certain offenses and lifetime registration for Tier III offenses with classifications made available to the public. New reporting requirements were added for offenders and the window for offenders to notify law enforcement of a change in address shortened from 10 to three days, among other changes.
After the Betts decision, the State Appellate Defender Office created the SORA Project to work with registered persons to vacate any convictions related to failure to comply with the now struck down 2011 requirements. An attorney was appointed to represent Gary Shaver, who was adjudicated or found guilty of three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and sentenced as a juvenile.
Upon release from the Maxey Boys Training School in 2009, Shaver was convicted in 2010 of failure to comply with registration requirements. Then the 2011 SORA went into effect, shortening the address change notification requirement from 10 to three days.
In 2015, Shaver notified law enforcement and updated his address to a new home where he was moving. The tenant, however, stayed in the dwelling beyond the date when Shaver was to move in. This led to Shaver’s registered address being wrong for 19 days. The Tuscola County prosecutor charged him with violating the 2011 SORA.
Shaver pleaded guilty to a second offense as a fourth-offense habitual offender. He was sentenced to six months in jail.
In 2022, Shaver moved for relief, asking the Tuscola Circuit Court to apply the Betts ruling and vacate his 2015 conviction. The court granted his motion but without first allowing the prosecution an opportunity to respond to the motion.
The prosecutor appealed, and the Court of Appeals reversed in a published opinion, saying the prosecution should have been given time to respond to the motion. Critically, the court also ruled Betts did not apply retroactively.
In a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Megan Cavanagh, the Supreme Court ruled that Betts does apply retroactively, reversing the appeals court.
Betts was a substantive new rule and thus applies retroactively, Cavanagh wrote in People v. Shaver (SC Docket No. 167736).
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