JOHN SIMMONS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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John Simmons appeals the trial court's denial of his request for declaratory and injunctive relief challenging the constitutionality of Florida's sex offender photo registration statute. The court affirmed, holding that the statute does not violate the ex post facto clause because it is regulatory rather than punitive in nature.
The statute does not violate the ex post facto clause. While the law is retrospective in its effect (satisfying the first prong of the ex post facto test), it does not alter the definition of criminal conduct or increase punishment (failing to satisfy the second prong). The photograph registration requirement is regulatory and procedural in nature, not punitive, and therefore does not constitute an ex post facto violation.
[1] A statute does not violate the ex post facto clause if it is regulatory in nature and does not alter the definition of criminal conduct or increase the punishment for a c…
[2] A law is retrospective in its effect if it applies to conduct that occurred before its enactment.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“In evaluating whether a law violates the ex post facto clause, a two-prong test must be applied: (1) whether the law is retrospective in its effect; and (2) whether the law alters the definition of criminal conduct or increases the penalty by which a crime is punishable.”
Establishes the controlling legal standard for ex post facto analysis
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceSimmons pled guilty to armed kidnapping, sexual battery, and armed sexual battery, and was sentenced to six years imprisonment followed by ten years p…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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PER CURIAM.
The Defendant appeals the trial court’s order denying him declaratory and injunc- tive relief on the issue of whether section 943.0435 of the Florida Statutes can be applied to him. We affirm.
The Defendant pled guilty in his best interest to one count of armed kidnapping, three counts of sexual battery, and three counts of armed sexual battery and was sentenced to. six years incarceration followed by ten years probation. After the Defendant was released from prison, the legislature enacted legislation requiring sex offenders to submit to a digital photograph, which can, in the discretion of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, be disseminated on the Internet. See §§ 943-44, Fla. Stat. (1997). The Defendant refused to comply with the statute and filed a motion for declaratory and injunctive relief in his criminal case, seeking to have section 943.0435 declared inapplicable. The trial court denied relief, and the Defendant appealed.
The Defendant argues that application to him of section 943.0435 violates the ex post facto clause and that he would have never entered a guilty plea had he known that his picture would be posted on the Internet. “In evaluating whether a law violates the ex post facto clause, a two-prong test must be applied: (1) whether the law is retrospective in its effect; and (2) whether the law alters the definition of criminal conduct or increases the penalty by which a crime is punishable.” Arnold v. State, 755 So. 2d 696, 699 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). The first prong has clearly been met.
However, the second prong has not been met because the statute does not alter the definition of criminal conduct and does not constitute punishment. We have stated that section 943.0435 is a regulatory statute. See Quinn v. State, 751 So. 2d 627 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999).
Regulatory statutes do not constitute punishment. See generally Fletcher v. State, 699 So. 2d 346, 347 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997), rev. denied, 707 So. 2d 1124 (Fla.1998).
In addition, the reporting requirements as well as the notification requirements of the Sexual Predator Act, which require law enforcement agencies to post information about sexual predators on the Internet, are regulatory and procedural in nature and do not violate the ex post facto clause. See Rickman v. State, 714 So. 2d 538, 539 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998).
Because the Sexual Predator Act, section 775.21 of the Florida Statutes, is similar to the sexual offender statutes at issue in the present case, we conclude based on Rick-man that no ex post facto violation occurred because the second prong of the test has not been met.
Accordingly, we affirm in all respects.
AFFIRMED.
WARNER, C.J., GUNTHER and KLEIN, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (12 total)
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Giorgetti v. State, 821 So. 2d 417 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)…l jury instruction declaring that guilty knowledge, mens rea, intent, or scienter need not be proved by the state to show a violation of the sexual offender registration statutes. In affirming we merely cited our prior decisions in Simmons v. State, 753 So. 2d 762 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000) and Quinn v. State, 751 So. 2d 627 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). Quinn decided the constitutional issue and held that section 943.0435 was not invalid in failing to contain an explicit textual requirement of scienter or an element of guil…1 / 2
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Givens v. State, 851 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)…Post Facto Clause. In addition, the First and Fourth Districts have held that section 943.0435 is procedural in nature and does not violate the Ex [*815] Post Facto Clause. See Freeland v. State, 832 So. 2d 923 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002); Simmons v. State, 753 So. 2d 762 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000). We agree and hold that the application of section 943.0435 to Givens does not violate ex post facto principles. Accordingly, we affirm Givens’ judgment and sentence for failure to register as a sexual offender. Affirmed. STRIN…
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Donovan v. State, 773 So. 2d 1264 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)…ge is required to inform a defendant only of the direct consequences of his plea). The same conclusion has been reached about the lesser requirements of reporting as a “sexual offender” under section 943.0435, Florida Statutes. In Simmons v. State, 753 So. 2d 762 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000), the court held that the sexual offender statute was regulatory in nature. Therefore, the statute did not violate the ex post facto clause. The statute did not [*1266] alter the definition of criminal conduct and did not constitu…
Previewing 3 of 12 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Fletcher v. State, 699 So. 2d 346 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)
- Houston v. State, 714 So. 2d 538 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)
- Manzell Arnold v. State, 755 So. 2d 696 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)
- Quinn v. State, 751 So. 2d 627 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)