State of Iowa v. Lloyd Aschbrenner

926 N.W.2d 240
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 5, 2019
Docket18-1045
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 926 N.W.2d 240 (State of Iowa v. Lloyd Aschbrenner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Iowa v. Lloyd Aschbrenner, 926 N.W.2d 240 (iowa 2019).

Opinions

WATERMAN, Justice.

The legislature periodically updates statutes to keep pace with technology. Convicted sex offenders have long been required to report and update their resident addresses with the local sheriff. The sex offender registry alerts neighbors, especially those with children, of sex offenders and helps law enforcement track them. In this appeal, an adult registered sex offender presents constitutional challenges to his conviction for violating a more recent statutory requirement that he report his "Internet identifiers" (such as names used on social media).

In 2007, the offender pleaded guilty to lascivious acts with a child and was placed on the sex offender registry pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 692A (2007). The legislature's 2009 amendment to that statute added the requirement that the offender disclose his Internet identifiers to the local sheriff and update the sheriff with any subsequent changes. The law is intended to prevent or detect a sex offender's use of Internet communications to lure new victims.

In 2017, the offender was charged with failing to report his Internet identifier for a Facebook account he was using under an assumed name. He argued that the statute, as applied to him, violated the Free *244Speech and Ex Post Facto Clauses in the Federal and State Constitutions. The district court declined to depart from our precedent, holding that sex offender registration requirements are not punitive, and rejected his ex post facto and free speech challenges. He appealed his resulting conviction, and his appellate briefing relies in part on our decision in In re T.H. , 913 N.W.2d 578 (Iowa 2018) (holding that sex offender registration requirements for a juvenile offender were punitive). We retained his appeal.

On our review, we hold In re T.H. applies only to juvenile offenders and the district court correctly rejected the ex post facto challenge. Applying intermediate scrutiny, we hold the Internet identifier reporting requirement is content neutral, serves a significant state interest, is narrowly tailored and, therefore, withstands challenge under the First Amendment and article I, section 7 of the Iowa Constitution. The statute allows the offender to use social media without requiring disclosure of passwords, the offender can update his Internet identifiers with the sheriff by phone or email within five business days, and similar Internet identifier reporting requirements have been upheld by other courts. Accordingly, we affirm the district court judgment.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

In 2007, Lloyd Aschbrenner, then age thirty-seven, pleaded guilty to one count of lascivious acts with a child in violation of Iowa Code section 709.8(3) (2007), a class "D" felony, after he molested his thirteen-year-old stepdaughter. The district court sentenced Aschbrenner to a five-year suspended prison sentence, supervised probation, and a ten-year special sentence requiring him to register as a sex offender. In 2008 and 2014, Aschbrenner was convicted of sex offender registry violations, each treated as a first offense, in Benton County and Linn County, respectively. As a result of his 2014 conviction, his registration requirement was extended another ten years. Id. § 692A.106(4) (2014).

Under the sex offender registration statute in force when Aschbrenner was convicted and sentenced in 2007, he was required to provide the sheriff with his name, address, and telephone number. Iowa Code § 692A.3 (2007). He was obligated to report any changes. Id. In 2009, the legislature rewrote and renumbered chapter 692A, significantly amending the statute. 2009 Iowa Acts ch. 119, div. I (codified as amended at Iowa Code ch. 692A (2011) ). One of the amendments changed the amount of information an offender was required to provide to the sheriff:

A sex offender shall appear in person to register with the sheriff of each county where the offender has a residence, maintains employment, or is in attendance as a student, within five business days of being required to register under section 692A.103 by providing all relevant information to the sheriff.

Iowa Code § 692A.104(1). Chapter 692A defines "relevant information" to include twenty-one categories. Id. § 692A.101(23)(a ). The one at issue here is "Internet identifier," defined as

an electronic mail address, instant message address or identifier, or any other designation or moniker used for self-identification during internet communication or posting, including all designations used for the purpose of routing or self-identification in internet communications or postings.

Id. § 692A.101(15). The statute does not prohibit the offender from using the Internet and does not require the offender to *245provide the sheriff with any passwords. See Iowa Code ch. 692A.

The offender is required to update the sheriff within five days of any changes in his or her Internet identifiers but need not report in person. Id. § 692A.104(3). The legislature authorized the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS) to promulgate rules implementing the reporting requirements. Id. The DPS issued a rule allowing offenders to update "any item of relevant information other than changes of address, places of attendance as a student, or places of employment ... in person, by telephone, or electronically, within five days of the change occurring." Iowa Admin. Code r. 661-83.3(4) (2009).

A member of the public may contact the sheriff's office to inquire about "relevant information from the registry regarding a specific sex offender," including whether a particular Internet identifier belongs to a registered sex offender. Iowa Code § 692A.121(5)(a ). But "[s]ex offender registry records are confidential records not subject to examination and copying by a member of the public and shall only be released as provided in this section." Id. § 692A.121(14).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
926 N.W.2d 240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-iowa-v-lloyd-aschbrenner-iowa-2019.