MO- State Supreme Court considers legality of sex offender registration

Two separate cases, one is about failure to register, and the other is about civil commitment.

12-11-2008 Missouri:

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Attorneys for two sex offenders asked the Missouri Supreme Court to release them from state custody Wednesday while challenging the propriety of the post-prison restrictions placed upon the men.

William Holden is serving a four-year sentence at the Farmington Correctional Center for not properly registering as a sex offender and contends he should be released because the registry didn't exist when he committed the crime.

Richard Closser finished his prison sentence but was ruled a "sexually violent predator" and has been housed at the Missouri Sexual Offender Treatment Center in Farmington. Closser argues that the state didn't follow its own procedures in having him civilly committed.

At issue in the Holden case is how to apply Missouri's sex offender registry. Starting in 1995, sex offenders were required to register with the state. But the state high court has ruled that those whose only offense happened before 1995 cannot be forced to register because the continuous registration was not part of the punishment when the sex offense occurred.

But because of some of the language used by the courts in determining who is required to register, it wasn't completely clear whether the focus should be on the date of the guilty plea or conviction or on the date of the offense.

Holden, 48, pleaded guilty in 1995 to sodomizing a 5-year-old - after the sex offender list was created - but the crime happened before the registry was established in April 1994. After Holden was released from prison, he registered as a sex offender when he moved to Hannibal in 2001, but he did not notify the Marion County Sheriff's Department within 10 days after he moved in 2007 from a basement to another house and then again to his car.

Public defender Irene Karns argued Wednesday that Holden shouldn't have been required to register as a sex offender because he had no way of knowing that such registration would have been required when the sodomy occurred.

Assistant Attorney General Dan McPherson said that the registration requirement for sex offenders is triggered by the conviction, not by the offense itself.

"When you commit a crime, you know you are subjecting yourself to prison time, and you know there are consequences that flow from that," McPherson said.

Judge Patricia Breckenridge questioned whether there should be different standards for those who plead guilty and those convicted by a jury. She said in the time it takes to get a conviction, there could be new consequences imposed for the crime.

The seven-judge panel also heard arguments Wednesday in a case focusing on a 1998 law that allows those deemed to be "sexually violent predators" to be held in a Department of Mental Health facility even after their prison sentence expires.

The case involves the civil commitment of Closser, but the attorney general's office estimates that the Supreme Court's ruling could affect five other men who could be held after completing prison sentences.

The case hinges on how Missouri evaluates those convicted of sex offenses in determining those who have better than even odds of again committing certain violent sexual crimes.

The Department of Corrections is supposed to alert the attorney general's office of inmates nearing their release dates who might qualify as sexually violent predators. The attorney general's office then decides if it agrees and convenes a prosecutor's committee to decide whether to petition the courts to transfer the prison inmate to a mental health facility following the prison term.

A trial judge in Macon County rejected a request by the attorney general's office to involuntarily commit Closser to the Farmington mental health facility because the attorney general's office used a psychiatric report that was prepared by Department of Corrections psychologist David Suire, who was not licensed in Missouri.

The Supreme Court has issued a temporary order blocking the dismissal of the petition, but if the court sides with Closser, he would be freed.

Public defender Emmett Queener said Wednesday that should happen because the state didn't follow its own procedures in allowing Suire to write the psychiatric report when the law states a Missouri-licensed practitioner is supposed to write it.

Missouri Solicitor Jim Layton said the report was designed to get prison officials involved in weeding out sex offenders who should not be released rather than add extra hoops. Layton said that a possible error by the Department of Corrections should not affect the attorney general's ability to ask the courts to hold certain sex offenders.

In fact, Layton argued, the attorney general's office and the Department of Corrections are not bound by the findings in the psychologist's report and can go against them. ..News Source.. by CHRIS BLANK