Hevner v. State

919 N.E.2d 109, 2010 Ind. LEXIS 1, 2010 WL 28663
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 6, 2010
Docket27S02-1001-CR-5
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 919 N.E.2d 109 (Hevner v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hevner v. State, 919 N.E.2d 109, 2010 Ind. LEXIS 1, 2010 WL 28663 (Ind. 2010).

Opinion

RUCKER, Justice.

We consider a claim that the Indiana Sex Offender Registration Act ("the Act") constitutes retroactive punishment forbidden by the Ex Post Facto Clause contained in the Indiana Constitution because it requires the defendant to register as a sex offender, when the Act contained no such requirement at the time the defendant committed the triggering offense.

Facts and Procedural History

Between October and November of 2005, Indiana resident Gary M. Hevner downloaded on his computer a number of sexually graphic files depicting children. As a consequence, on April 28, 2006, the State charged Hevner with possession of child pornography as a Class D felony. See Ind.Code § 35-42-4-4. After a three day jury trial that began June 28, 2008, he was convicted as charged. This was Hev-ner's first offense under the statute. After a hearing on July 21, 2008, the trial court sentenced Hevner to a three-year term which was suspended to time served and placed Hevner on probation for two and one-half years. Among other things the trial court ordered Hevner to register as a sex offender, directed him to undergo a "sex offender assessment and follow recommendations[,]" and declared that Hev-ner was "subject to the Rules for Sex Offenders as approved by the Grant County Cireuit and Superior Courts." Br. of Appellant at 5.

At the time committed his crime, a person convicted for the first time of possessing child pornography was not considered a sex offender and thus was not required to register as such. See Ind. Code § 5-2-12-4(a)(13) (2005) ("As used in this chapter, 'offender' means a person *111 convicted of ... [plossession of child pornography [] if the person has a prior unrelated conviction for possession of child pornography. ..."). While Hevner was awaiting trial in 2006, the Legislature repealed Ind.Code § 5-2-12-4 and recodified the statute at Ind.Code § 11-8-8-4.5. See Pub.L. No. 140-2006, §§ 13, 41. Effective July 1, 2007-before Hevner was convicted but after he was charged-the legislature amended the statute to require anyone convicted of possession of child pornography to register as a sex offender regardless of whether the person had accumulated a prior unrelated conviction. See Ind. Code § 11-8-8-4.5(a)(13) (2007) ("... as used in this chapter, 'sex offender' means a person convicted of ... [plossession of child pornography (IC 35-42-4-4(c))."); see also Ind.Code § 11-8-8-7 (providing among other things, "... the following persons must register under this chapter: ... [a] sex or violent offender who resides in Indiana ...." or "[all sex or violent offender who works or carries on a vocation or intends to work or carry on a vocation full-time or part-time" for a specified period). Thus, at the time of his conviction, Hevner was required to register as a sex offender.

Hevner appealed contending: (1) the State violated an order in limine during closing arguments, (2) the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction, and (3) the registration requirement violated the ex post facto prohibitions of both the Indiana and federal constitutions. The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court in an unpublished memorandum decision. Hevner v. State, No. 27A02-0808-CR-717, 904 N.E.2d 394 (Ind.Ct.App. Mar. 31, 2009). We grant transfer to address Hevner's ex post facto claim. In all other respects we summarily affirm the Court of Appeals' decision.

Discussion

The United States Constitution provides that "[Inlo State shall ... pass any ... ex post facto Law." U.S. Const. art. I, § 10. The Indiana Constitution provides that "Inlo ex post facto law ... shall ever be passed." Ind. Const. art. I, § 24. Among other things, "[the ex post facto prohibition forbids the Congress and the States to enact any law 'which imposes a punishment for an act which was not punishable at the time it was committed; or imposes additional punishment to that then prescribed.'" Weaver v. Graham, 450 U.S. 24, 28, 101 S.Ct. 960, 67 L.Ed.2d 17 (1981) (quoting Cummings v. Missouri, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 277, 325-26, 18 L.Ed. 356 (1866)). The underlying purpose of the Ex Post Facto Clause is to give effect to the fundamental principle that persons have a right to fair warning of that conduct which will give rise to criminal penalties. Armstrong v. State, 848 N.E.2d 1088, 1093 (Ind.2006).

Hevner contends that as applied to him the Act violates both the Indiana and federal constitutional prohibitions against ex post facto laws. Recently, in Wallace v. State, we noted that the United States Supreme Court concluded that Alaska's Sex Offender Registration Act, which is very similar to Indiana's Act, did not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution. Wallace v. State, 905 N.E.2d 371, 378 (Ind.2009). We thus proceeded to evaluate Wallace's claim under the Indiana Constitution albeit adopting the same analytical framework the Supreme Court employed to evaluate ex post facto claims under the federal constitution. Id. at 378.

In evaluating ex post facto claims under the Indiana Constitution we apply what is commonly referred to as the "intent-effects" test. Id. Under this test the court must first determine whether the *112 legislature meant the statute to establish civil proceedings. Id. at 379. If the intention of the legislature was to impose punishment, then that ends the inquiry, because punishment results. Id. If, however the court concludes the legislature intended a non-punitive regulatory scheme, then the court must further examine whether the statutory scheme is so punitive in effect as to negate that intention thereby transforming what was intended as a civil regulatory scheme into a criminal penalty. Id.

We assume without deciding that when the Legislature amended Ind.Code § 11-8-8-4.5 (2007) requiring first time possessors of child pornography to register as sex offenders, it intended a civil regulatory scheme. The question is whether the registration requirement is punitive in effect.

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Bluebook (online)
919 N.E.2d 109, 2010 Ind. LEXIS 1, 2010 WL 28663, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hevner-v-state-ind-2010.