KY- State to appeal ruling limiting sex-offender law

10-29-2009 Kentucky:

The Kentucky attorney general’s office has asked the state Supreme Court to delay enforcement of its Oct. 1 ruling throwing out part of the state’s sex-offender statute until the U.S. Supreme Court hears the case.

The attorney general’s office filed a motion Oct. 21 asking the state high court to stay its ruling that the law banning sex offenders from living near schools, day cares and playgrounds cannot be applied to those convicted before the statute was enacted in 2006.

The court ruled 5-2 that the statute was improperly imposed on people convicted before it went into effect. The U.S. and Kentucky constitutions prohibit laws that impose or increase punishment on criminal acts committed before the law's enactment.

Lisa Lamb, a spokeswoman for the state Corrections Department, said on the advice of its general counsel, the department has told its probation and parole officers not to follow the ruling until the state Supreme Court decides whether it will be stayed.

Michael Baker, of Elsmere, Ky., who was convicted in 1995 of third-degree rape and successfully challenged the law, has until Nov. 3 to respond to the attorney general’s motion. His lawyer, Bradley Fox, said he will oppose it.

“The state Supreme Court was pretty clear in its ruling, and we think it should stay in place until another court reverses it," Fox said.

The state Supreme Court could rule on the motion any time after Baker’s response is filed.

The attorney general’s office has until Dec. 30 to file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. No petition has been filed.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejects most cases, but the issue of whether sex-offender laws can be applied retroactively has surfaced in many states.

Under the Kentucky Supreme Court’s Oct. 1 ruling, sex offenders will still be required to register, but the residency restrictions enacted in 2006 cannot be applied to offenders convicted before that date.

The Kentucky State Police has said it is unable to say how many sex offenders committed their crimes before July 2006 and remain on the list. But The Courier-Journal reported at that time that there were about 5,800 statewide and about 760 in Jefferson County.

The 2006 statute subjected all convicted sex offenders to the residency requirements, while the old law applied to roughly 1,200 offenders who were on probation or parole. ..Source.. by Andrew Wolfson