Patterson v. State

323 P.3d 65, 2014 WL 1408494, 2014 Alas. App. LEXIS 46
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedApril 11, 2014
DocketNo. A-11501
StatusPublished

This text of 323 P.3d 65 (Patterson v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patterson v. State, 323 P.3d 65, 2014 WL 1408494, 2014 Alas. App. LEXIS 46 (Ala. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

Judge ALLARD.

Kevin S. Patterson is required to register as a sex offender for life and to file quarterly written verifications with the Department of Public Safety. After he failed to disclose all the email addresses he used in his April 2009 quarterly verification, he was convicted of second-degree failure to register as a sex offender for "knowingly failling] to supply accurate and complete information" in his quarterly verification.1

Patterson appeals his conviction, arguing that he was not required to disclose all of his email addresses because the legal requirement to do so did not arise until after he had filed his initial registration. Patterson as[66]*66serts that he complied with his statutory duty to disclose the email addresses that he had "established" or "changed" since his last quarterly verification and that he was under no statutory obligation to disclose the email address he created in 2006, prior to the enactment of the email disclosure requirements.

For the reasons discussed below, we reject Patterson's interpretation of the sex offender registration statute and affirm Patterson's conviction.

Facts and proceedings

Patterson was convicted in Minnesota of felony possession of child pornography and child endangerment. Since 2007, he has been required under an interstate compact to register as a sex offender in Alaska Because Patterson has been convicted of two or more sex offenses, his duty to register continues for life, and he must file quarterly verifications with the Department of Public Safety.2 Since January 1, 2009, this duty to file quarterly verifications has included the duty to disclose email addresses.3

On April 14, 2009, Patterson's probation officer reported to the Alaska State Troopers that she suspected Patterson was using his computer in a manner that violated the conditions of his probation. In the course of the troopers' investigation, they learned that Patterson had email addresses he had not disclosed in his January 80, 2009 and April 29, 2009 quarterly verifications. In those verifications, Patterson had disclosed only his school email address, which his probation officer had given him permission to use. Patterson was consequently charged under AS 11.56.840 with one count of second-degree failure to register as a sex offender for failing to disclose all of his email addresses.4

Patterson moved to suppress the evidence and to dismiss the charge, arguing that AS 11.56.840 did not require him to report all of his email addresses in each written verification, only the email addresses he had recently "established" or "changed." Patterson asserted that he had established the email addresses he was charged with failing to disclose before the email disclosure requirement went into effect. Patterson additionally argued that, to the extent the statute did require him to disclose all of his email addresses, it violated his due process rights, because the statute did not give him sufficient notice of this requirement.

District Court Judge Sharon Tlisley denied the motion to dismiss. The court read AS 11.56.840 to require individuals like Patterson (i.e., people who had initially registered as sex offenders before the email disclosure requirement went into effect on January 1, 2009) to disclose all of their email addresses in their annual or quarterly verifications filed after January 1, 2009. With respect to Patterson's due process claim, the court ruled that the verification forms issued to sex offenders by the Department of Public Safety gave Patterson adequate notice that he was required to disclose all of his active email addresses. Judge Ilsley also noted that Patterson was "obviously aware" of this duty because, in his April 2009 verification, he disclosed a school email address he had established in 2008, prior to the enactment of the email disclosure requirement.

At the jury trial that followed, Patterson's defense was that he was not aware that he had to disclose email addresses that had been "established for some time." The jury rejected that defense and convicted Patterson. He appeals.

Why we conclude Patterson was required to disclose all the email addresses he used regardless of when they were first established

On appeal, Patterson abandons his claim that he had inadequate notice that he was required to disclose all of his email addresses. He raises only one claim: that his conduct was not criminal because AS 11.56.840 only required him to disclose newly established email addresses or changes to existing addresses.

[67]*67The email registration requirements for sex offenders are laid out in AS 12.63.010. Under AS 12.63.010(b), sex offenders who file their initial registration (a one-time duty), must provide "each electronic mail address, instant messaging address, and other Internet communication identifier used by the ... offender." 5 The statute also requires sex offenders to notify the Department of Public Safety within one working day if the offender later "establishes or changes an electronic mail address, instant messaging address, or other Internet communication identifier."6 Finally, the statute requires sex offenders who are required to file annual or quarterly written verifications to report, "in the manner required by the department ... any changes to the information previously provided [in the sex offender's initial registration]."7

A companion statute, AS 11.56.840, makes the failure to comply with these registration, notification, and verification requirements a criminal offense. Under AS 11.56.840(a), a person is guilty of second-degree failure to register as a sex offender if the person is required to register under AS 12.63.010, knows of that requirement, and fails to:

(A) register;
(B) file written notice of
(i) change of residence;
() change of mailing address;
(#) establishment of an electronic or messaging address or any change to an electronic or messaging address; or
(iv) establishment of an Internet communication identifier or any change to an Internet communication identifier;
(C) file the annual or quarterly written verification; or
(D) supply accurate and complete information required [to be in compliance with these registration requirements].8

Patterson acknowledges that these provisions of law apply to him, but he argues that none of these provisions requires sex offenders in his situation (4.e., sex offenders whose initial registration occurred prior to January 1, 2009, the effective date of the email disclosure requirements) to make an initial disclosure of "each electronic mail address, instant messaging address, and other Internet communication identifier used by the ... offender."9 Patterson argues that the only duty faced by offenders in his situation is the continuing duty to "update" the Department with newly established email addresses or changes to existing addresses.10

This argument ignores the uncodified portion of the 2008 session law that created the email disclosure requirements.

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Related

§ 11.56.840
Alaska § 11.56.840
§ 11.81.220
Alaska § 11.81.220
§ 12.63.010
Alaska § 12.63.010(d)(1)
§ 12.63.020
Alaska § 12.63.020(a)(1)(B)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
323 P.3d 65, 2014 WL 1408494, 2014 Alas. App. LEXIS 46, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patterson-v-state-alaskactapp-2014.