Doe v. Bredesen

507 F.3d 998, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 26630, 2007 WL 3406761
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit·Decided November 16, 2007·No. 06-6393·Published·Cited by 204 cases

Opinions

GRIFFIN, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which VAN TATENHOVE, D.J., joined. KEITH, J. (pp. 1008-12), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

[1000] OPINION

GRIFFIN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant John Doe pleaded guilty in the Criminal Court of Knox County, Tennessee, to attempted aggravated kidnapping in violation of Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 39-12-101 and 31-13-304, and two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure in violation of Tenn.Code Ann. § SO-IS^?. After Doe was convicted and sentenced, the Tennessee Legislature enacted the Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Act of 2004 (“the Registration Act”), Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-201 et seq., which became effective on August 1, 2004. The Registration Act reclassified Doe as a violent sexual offender, see Tenn. Code Ann. § 40 — 39—202(24)(j), and required him to comply with the requirements of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (“TBI”) Sexual Offender Registry for the rest of his life, see Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-207(g)(1)(B). The Tennessee Legislature also enacted the Tennessee Serious and Violent Sex Offender Monitoring Pilot Project Act (“the Monitoring Act”), Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-301 et seq., which became effective July 1, 2004.1 The Monitoring Act authorized the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole (“the board”) to subject a convicted sexual offender to a satellite-based monitoring program for the duration of his probation. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-303. In August 2005, Doe’s probation officer notified him that he would be required to wear a global positioning (“GPS”) device at all times beginning in September 2005.

Doe brought suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee (“the district court”) alleging that because he was convicted before the effective date of the Registration and Monitoring Acts, the application of the Acts’ requirements to him violated the Ex Post Facto Clauses of the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 3, Clause 3) and the Tennessee Constitution, as well as his right to procedural due process and his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and his right to privacy under both constitutions. The government moved to dismiss the complaint under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted, and Doe filed an opposition brief that supported only the Ex Post Facto claims. Doe’s opposition brief also sought to raise a claim that was not in his complaint — that application of the Registration and Monitoring Acts to him violated his plea agreement.

The district court ruled that Doe’s ex post facto claims were meritless, the government had not breached the plea agreement, and Doe had abandoned his other claims. The district court dismissed the complaint, and Doe timely appealed. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. In doing so, we hold, inter alia, that the Registration Act (Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-201 et seq.) and the Monitoring Act (Tenn.Code Ann. 40-39-301 et seq.) do not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution.

I.

Between January 1, 1995, and July 1, 2004, Doe pleaded guilty in the Criminal Court of Knox County, Tennessee, to attempted aggravated kidnapping in violation of Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 39-12-101 and 31-13-304, and two counts of sexual bat[1001] tery by an authority figure in violation of Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-527. At the time Doe was convicted, each of his sexual battery offenses was termed by Tennessee law as a “sexual offense” and he was classified as a “sexual offender.” Under Tennessee law, as it existed at the time of his convictions, Doe had the right, ten years after the termination of his probation, to petition the circuit court to reheve him of the continued filing of registration and monitoring forms and to expunge all data stored in the central record system about him.

Since being placed on probation, Doe met the sexual offender registration and monitoring requirements that were imposed on him by former Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-103, which has now been repealed.

The Registration Act, Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-201 et seq., became effective on August 1, 2004, and repealed the prior Sexual Offender Act, which had been codified at Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 40-39-101 through 40-39-111.2 Among other provisions, the Registration Act repealed and replaced the sexual offender classification system which had been found at former Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-301(1) and (3).

Under the new Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-202(23) and (24), Doe’s criminal offense was retroactively reclassified as a “violent sexual offense,” and he was reclassified retroactively as a “violent sexual offender.” See Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-301(3) (“ ‘Violent sexual offender’ also includes any person who has been released on probation or parole following any conviction for a sexual offense, as defined in subdivision (2), to the extent that the person continues to be subject to active supervision by the board of probation and parole as defined in law.”); Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-39-301(2)(A)(xi) (defining “sexual offense” to include sexual battery by an authority figure in violation of Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-527).

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Doe v. Bredesen, 507 F.3d 998, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 26630, 2007 WL 3406761 (6th Cir. 2007).

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