Prosecutor: High court ruling on sex offenders complicates process

A ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday prohibiting the prosecution of sex offenders noncompliant with two restrictive laws may force area lawyers and law enforcement officials to review the sex offender registry more often.

The Supreme Court's 4-3 ruling applies only to sex offenders convicted prior to the enactment of a 2004 law forbidding a registered sex offender to live within 1,000 feet of a school or day care, and a 2008 law that imposes a ban on Halloween activities.

"Every time one of these comes up, we're all going to have to hit the books," Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said. "You don't want a criminal law to be so complicated that a prosecutor has to do that every time a charge is filed."

A total of 139 sex offenders are registered in Cape Girardeau County.

Despite the extra step prosecutors will need to take, Swingle said the Supreme Court's ruling was logical, because of the provision in the Missouri Constitution that prohibits retrospective laws.

The provision is what makes Missouri's constitution significantly different then the U.S. Constitution, Swingle added.

While both bar the passing of an ex post facto law, one intended to apply to crimes that took place before its passage, Missouri's constitution also says a law "retrospective in its operation" isn't allowed.

For Missouri's ex post facto law to change and better mirror federal law, Swingle said the issue would have to be placed on a ballot and go to a vote of the people.

"My thought is probably that the public does want this done," Swingle said. "The legislature might want to put together a committee with constitutional scholars."

Julie Meiners, Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecuting attorney, shared the same sentiment, because a change in the law would mean new obligations would apply to past actions, making requirements the same for all sex offenders.

"This is going to cause a lot of confusion; our office is going to have to spend a lot of time looking things up, but obviously that's our job to know the law and all the updates," she said.

While prosecutors adjust to the Supreme Court's ruling, Meiners said sex offenders convicted after July 1, 1979, need to know the law requiring them to register hasn't changed.

"They need to be aware that ignorance of the law isn't an excuse not to register," she said.

After a federal law passed in June proposing a national sex offender registry, the Missouri Supreme Court handed down a similar decision, prompting the county prosecuting attorney's office to notify 23 offenders of their noncompliance with the law. Meiners said that to date, 16 of those people are compliant. Two letters were sent back because one offender had moved out of the county and the other was deceased.

The Supreme Court's decision won't extensively affect county law enforcement, according to Meiners, who said complaints regarding questionable sex offender activity are ultimately sent to her office.

"It's the prosecutor's job to ensure the proper crime is being charged," Meiners.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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