Osburn v. Oklahoma Department of Corrections

2013 OK 89, 313 P.3d 926, 2013 WL 5799818, 2013 Okla. LEXIS 125
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 29, 2013
DocketNo. 109,867
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2013 OK 89 (Osburn v. Oklahoma Department of Corrections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Osburn v. Oklahoma Department of Corrections, 2013 OK 89, 313 P.3d 926, 2013 WL 5799818, 2013 Okla. LEXIS 125 (Okla. 2013).

Opinions

COMBS, J.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

' 1 On or about, August 18, 1997, Appellee, Keith Allen Osburn (hereinafter, "Osburn") was charged with one felony count of indecent exposure in violation of 21 O.S., § 1021(A)(1) (CF 97-262; Kay County, Oklahoma). On June 22, 1998, Osburn pled no contest to the charge and was given a five-year sentence of which he was to serve ten weekends in the Kay County Jail with the remainder of his sentence suspended. Thereafter, in 2000, Osburn began registration under the Sex Offenders Registration Act (hereinafter "SORA"), 57 O.S., § 581 et seq.1 Sometime after November 1, 2007, the Appellant, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (hereinafter, "Department"), assigned Osburn a sex offender risk level of one.2 This increased Osburn's allegedly required SORA registration period to fifteen years from the date of the completion of his sentence. The Department determined his registration period will now end in June 2018.3

T 2 On June 21, 2002, Osburn pled guilty to felony charges in two separate criminal cases for failure to register as a sex offender in violation of 57 O.S., § 587 (CF 2001-426 and CF 2002-226; Kay County, Oklahoma). In each case, the district court sentenced him to three years in the state penitentiary. The district court ordered each sentence suspended and the two sentences to be served consecutively. Neither case was appealed. On May 29, 2009, another Kay County case charging Osburn with failure to register was dismissed by the district court (CF 07-520).

T3 On March 29, 2011, Osburn filed an Application to terminate his SORA registration in Garfield County, Oklahoma, the coun[928]*928ty of his residence. In his Application, he asserted he was eligible to apply under 57 O0.S., § 588(E) to end his SORA registration because he had been registered for ten years. At the time he filed his application, subsection E provided as follows:

E. Any person assigned a numeric risk level of one who has been registered for a period of ten (10) years and who has not been arrested or convicted for any felony or misdemeanor offense since being released from confinement, may petition the district court in the jurisdiction where the person resides for the purpose of removing the numeric risk level designation and allowing the person to no longer be subject to the registration requirements of the Sex Offenders Registration Act. (Emphasis added).
Title 57 0.8. Supp.2010, § 583(E).

T4 On May 19, 2011, Osburn filed an Amended Application wherein he asserted the SORA registration requirements were "inaccurately" applied to him because he should never have been required to register in the first place. Osburn indicates this argument is based upon the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws.4 When he was convicted on June 22, 1998, 57 O.S. Supp.1997, § 582 specifically excluded indecent exposure from SORA registration.5 Four months after his conviction, amendments to Section 582 became effective which included indecent exposure as an enumerated offense. This was accomplished by deleting the language which specifically excluded that crime from SORA registration.6

11 5 Osburn further asserted even if he was required to register he has already completed his ten years of registration. He argued he still can apply to be removed from SORA registration under Section 583(E) because even though he was arrested and convicted after his indecent exposure conviction, those arrests and convictions were for failure to register under SORA and it is clear that at the time of his indecent exposure conviction the statute did not require him to register.

T6 The Department filed an Objection to Amended Application alleging the trial court was without jurisdiction to hear Osburn's application. Title 57 O.S. Supp.2010, § 583(E) does not allow a person who has been "arrested or convicted for any felony or misdemeanor offense" to apply for a reduction to their level one registration period. The Department asserts Osburn had been arrested three times and convicted twice since his 1998 indecent exposure conviction. The Department further asserted Osburn may not collaterally attack the validity of his convictions for failure to register. The Department argued, even if his convictions could be challenged his arrests cannot. The language is clear that even an arrest will thwart eligibility for reduction under the statute. Therefore, it was asserted the trial court did not have jurisdiction to reduce Os-burn's registration period.

T7 On August 15, 2011, the trial court found SORA did not apply to Osburn when he was convicted in June 1998 and therefore he should never have been required to register. The court ordered Osburn was not subject to SORA's registration requirements. The Department appealed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

18 On appeal, this Court assumes "plenary independent and non-deferential authority to reexamine a trial court's legal rulings." Kluver v. Weatherford Hospital Auth., [929]*9291993 OK 85, ¶ 14, 859 P.2d 1081, 1084. Issues of a statute's constitutional validity and of its construction and application are questions of law reviewed de novo. (Gilbert v. Security Finance Corp. of Oklahoma, Inc., 2006 OK 58, ¶ 2, 152 P.3d 165, 171.

ANALYSIS

19 On appeal, the Department alleges "the district court had neither jurisdiction over Appellant nor subject matter jurisdietion." The Department asserts the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the Department because the court allegedly granted injunctive relief and the action was not brought in the proper venue. This assertion is based upon 12 O.S.2011, § 188. That seetion of law provides in pertinent part:

Actions for the following causes must be brought in the county where the cause, or some part thereof arose: ...
Second. An action against a public officer for an act done by him in virtue, or under color, of his office, or for neglect of his official duties.
Title 12 O.S.2011, § 133.7

The Department also reiterates its argument that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because 57 O.S. Supp.2010, § 583(BE) only allows a district court to reduce a level one registration period if the applicant had not been subsequently arrested or convicted and Osburn had subsequent arrests and convictions.

1 10 Title 12 O.S. $ 2011, 2012(F) provides, "1. A defense of lack of jurisdiction over the person, [and] improper venue ... is waived . if omitted from a motion that raises any of the defenses or objections which this seetion permits to be raised by motion...." Subsection B of Section 2012 lists the types of defenses that can be made by motion which include "[Jack of jurisdiction over the subject matter ... [and] [flailure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." The record demonstrates the Department's first filing at the trial court level consisted of an Objection to Amended Application wherein the Department asserted Osburn failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and requested the trial court to dismiss the action for want of jurisdiction. This argument challenging jurisdiction was based on the trial court's subject matter jurisdiction and not personal jurisdiction.

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Bluebook (online)
2013 OK 89, 313 P.3d 926, 2013 WL 5799818, 2013 Okla. LEXIS 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/osburn-v-oklahoma-department-of-corrections-okla-2013.