Indiana Supreme Court overturns sex registry conviction

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a man's conviction for not registering as a sex offender because he had already completed a sentence for child molesting before the state's Sex Offender Registration Act was enacted.

In a unanimous ruling, the court said the subsequent conviction of Richard P. Wallace two years ago violated the state constitution's prohibition of retroactive laws.

Applying the sex registration requirement to Wallace, who completed his probation two years before the law was enacted, would impose "burdens that have the effect of adding punishment beyond that which could have been imposed when his crime was committed," Justice Robert Rucker wrote in an 18-page opinion.

Wallace pleaded guilty to one count of child molesting in 1989 and was given a five-year suspended sentence plus probation. He completed the probation in 1992, and in 1994 the Legislature passed a law requiring registration of sex offenders. The law was amended in 2001 to require registration regardless when the offenders were convicted, and Wallace's ex-wife notified authorities in 2003 that he had never registered.

Wallace was convicted in Marion Superior Court and given an 18-month suspended sentence 2007, and the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed that conviction last year.

In a separate ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction of an Allen County man who in 2000 pleaded guilty to one count of vicarious sexual gratification and one count of child molesting and spent three years in prison and another three on probation. He was also required under a separate state law at the time to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

But in 2006, the Legislature amended the law to require lifetime registration as a "sexually violent predator."

Jensen appealed the conviction in Allen Superior Court, arguing the law was retroactive and that his original plea agreement was made invalid because he wasn't advised he would have to register for life.

The Indiana Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, but in Thursday's 3-2 ruling the Supreme Court rejected his arguments, saying Jensen "cites no evidence of a punitive intent on the part of the Legislature. ... Thus we presume that the Legislature's intent was civil and regulatory, and not criminal or punitive in relation to the claim that the act is an ex post facto violation."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.