Reynaldo Parado Rodriguez v. State

WOODWARD, J. Appellant, Reynaldo Parado Rodriguez, committed a third degree sexual offense involving a fifteen-year-old victim in 1996, for which he was convicted in 1998 and sentenced in 1999. At the time of the commission of the crime, as well as at the time of sentencing, appellant was not required to register as a sex offender under the Maryland sex offender registration act (“MSORA”). As a result of the 2001 amendment to MSORA, however, appellant was required to register for the rest of his life. The 2010 amendment to MSORA placed additional registration requirements on homeless registrants, which appellant failed to comply with when he became homeless in 2011.

Appellant was charged in the Circuit Court for Frederick County with failing to register as a homeless sex offender. At a hearing on January 17, 2012, appellant admitted to failing to register as required by the 2010 amendment to MSORA, but argued to the court that he could not be convicted because he could not be required constitutionally to register in the first place. The circuit court rejected appellant’s argument, convicted him of failing to register, and sentenced ²⁹ him to five years’ incarceration, with all but eighteen months suspended. On appeal, appellant presents two questions for our review: 1.

Was the evidence insufficient to sustain the conviction for failing to register and must [a'Jppellant no longer have to register? 2. Must [ajppellant’s conviction for failing to register be vacated because the plea agreement for the predicate conviction did not contemplate a registration requirement? We answer both questions in the negative and, accordingly, shall affirm. BACKGROUND Predicate Offense In August 1996, appellant, who was then twenty-six years old, had sexual intercourse with a fifteen-year-old coworker.

Approximately one year later, the victim’s parents complained, and on September 29, 1998, appellant pled guilty to committing a third degree sexual offense in violation of Article 27, § 464B. 1 On January 4, 1999, the circuit court sentenced appellant to eighteen months’ incarceration, all of which was suspended in favor of two years’ supervised probation, starting on the day of sentencing. In November of 1999, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (the “Department”) charged appellant with violating his probation by failing to (1) pay his monthly supervising fee, and (2) inform his supervising agent of his current address and place of employment. Appellant stipulated to a violation of probation, and on March 31, 2000, the ³⁰ circuit court sentenced appellant to eighteen months incarceration, suspending all but six days to be served on three consecutive weekends. The court also increased the period of probation from two years to three years, commencing on January 4,1999 and terminating on January 4, 2002.

Sex Offender Registration At the time that appellant committed the third degree sexual offense in 1996, the version of MSORA in effect was the original one enacted in 1995. Md. Code (1957,1992 Repl. Vol., 1995 Cum. Supp.), Article 27, § 692B.

Under Article 27, § 692B, only child sex offenders, as defined by the statute, were required to register. Under that definition, appellant was not a child sex offender. Id. § 692B(a). At the time of appellant’s conviction and sentencing, MSORA had been recodified as Article 27, § 792 and expanded by a 1997 amendment to require registration for “offenders,” “sexually violent offenders,” and “sexually violent predators.” Md. Code (1957, 1996 Repl.

Vol., 1997 Cum. Supp.), Article 27, § 792(a)(7); see also Graves v. State, 364 Md. 329, 336-39 , 772 A.2d 1225 (2001) (discussing the early history of MSORA). A “sexually violent offender” included a person who, like appellant, had been convicted of an offense under Article 27, § 464B and required registration for a period of ten years. Id. § 792(a)(9)-(10), (h).

The 1997 amendment to MSORA, however, applied only to offenses committed on or after July 1, 1997, and thus did not apply to appellant’s 1996 offense. Editor’s note, Article 27, § 792. In 1999, the General Assembly made significant revisions to MSORA. Ochoa v. Dep’t of Pub.

Safety & Corr. Servs., 430 Md. 315, 319-20 , 61 A.3d 1 (2013). Relevant to the instant case, the 1999 amendment subjected a sexually violent offender who had committed an offense under Article 27, § 464B to lifetime registration. Md. Code (1957, 1996 Repl.

Vol., 2000 Cum. Supp.), Article 27, § 792(d)(5)(ii). The retroactive application of the 1999 amendment, however, was limited to sexually violent offenders who had committed offenses after July 1, ³¹ 1997, again removing appellant’s 1996 offense from the purview of MSORA. In 2001, the General Assembly made further changes to MSORA, this time adding a significant retroactivity provision (the “2001 Retroactivity Provision”).

See Md. Code (2001), § 11-702.1 of the Criminal Procedure Article (“CP 2001”). 2 In relevant part, the 2001 Amendment required the retroactive registration of offenders “convicted of an offense committed before July 1, 1997,” who were “under the custody or supervision of a supervising authority on October 1, 2001.” CP 2001 § ll-702.1(a). The 2001 Amendment defined supervising authority as including the Director of Parole and Probation. CP 2001 § 11 — 701(i)(ll). Appellant was on probation on October 1, 2001, and thus met the requirement for retroactive registration under the 2001 Retroactivity Provision.

CP 2001 § ll-702.1(a). As a sexually violent offender, who had violated Article 27, § 464B, appellant was required to register for the remainder of his life. CP 2001 § ll-707(a)(4)(ii)(2). Although required to register in 2001 as a sexually violent offender, appellant was not notified by law enforcement of his registration obligation until March 13, 2007. 3 At the hearing on the conviction challenged sub judice, appellant testified that he learned he had to register when “in 2007 they came to my job, and [ ] I lost my job the next day.” 4 ³² In 2010, the General Assembly again made major changes to MSORA. 5 The 2010'amendment reclassified sex offenders into tiers: (1) Tier I offenders must register in person every six months for fifteen years, with the possibility of a reduction in the term to ten years; (2) Tier II offenders must register in person every six months for twenty-five years; and (3) Tier III offenders must register every three months for life.

CP 2010 § 11-707. The 2010 amendment contained a retroactive provision that applied the amendment to any person who qualified as a Tier I, II, or III offender and who was subject to registration on September 30, 2010 (the “2010 Retroactivity Provision”). 6 CP 2010 § 11-702.1. Because appellant was subject to registration on September 30, 2010 (as a result of the 2001 Retroactivity Provision) and his third degree sexual offense with a fifteen-year-old qualified him as a Tier II offender, appellant was required by the 2010 amendment to register for twenty-five years. Therefore, the retroactive application of the 2010 amendment to MSORA actually reduced appellant’s registration period from lifetime to twenty-five years. ³³ Failure to Register After becoming a registrant by application of the 2001 Retroactivity Provision, appellant, like all sex offenders, faced penalties for failing to register.

See CP 2001 § 11-721. Under the version of MSORA relevant to the matter sub judice, registration generally requires sex offenders to (1) notify law enforcement of their registrant status, and also of changes of circumstance like a new residence or job, and (2) to disclose various information to law enforcement at the time of registration, such as the offender’s name, address and the nature of his predicate offense. See CP 2010 §§ 11-705, -706. Registrants who fail to abide by the notification requirements of CP 2010 § 11-705, or the disclosure requirements CP 2010 § 11-706, are guilty of the criminal offense of failing to register pursuant to CP 2010 § ll-721(a). 7 Prior to the 2010 amendment to MSORA, a registrant was required to send written notice to the state registry of a change in residence within five days after the change occurred.

CP 2009 § 11 — 705(d). The Court of Appeals, however, held that an earlier version of Section 11 — 705(d) did not apply to homeless registrants. Twine v. State, 395 Md. 539, 550 , 910 A.2d 1132 (2006). Subsequently, the General Assembly enacted, as a part of the 2010 amendment to MSORA, additional registration requirements for a “homeless registrant.” CP 2010 § 11 — 705(d).

Section ll-705(d) then read: (d) Homeless registrants (1) A homeless registrant also shall register in person with the local law enforcement unit in each county where the registrant habitually lives: (i) -within 3 days after the earlier of the date of release or after registering with the supervising authority; and (ii) within 3 days after entering and remaining in a county. ³⁴ (2) After initially registering with a local law enforcement unit under this subsection, a homeless registrant shall register once a week in person during the time the homeless registrant habitually lives in the county. On August 21, 2011, appellant moved out of his residence after an argument with his wife and began living out of his vehicle. On September 11, 2011, a law enforcement officer went to appellant’s former residence in Frederick County and learned from appellant’s son that appellant had not been living there for some time. The next day the officer contacted appellant by phone, and appellant admitted that he had been homeless since August 21, 2011.

Appellant also admitted that, although he understood the nature of his registration requirements, he failed to notify local law enforcement of “any changes.” On October 7, 2011 a grand jury in Frederick County indicted appellant for his “knowing” failure “to register one time per week in person with the Frederick County Sheriffs Office as required of a homeless registrant.” 8 In response to the indictment, at a hearing on January 17, 2012, on the failure to register charge, appellant waived his right to jury trial and pled not guilty on an agreed statement of facts. Appellant agreed that the State could prove that appellant knowingly failed to register each week in person while he was homeless from August 21, 2011 to September 11, 2011. Appellant argued, however, that the registration requirement was “illegal” under the federal and state constitutional prohibitions ³⁵ on ex post facto laws because he was not required to register at the time of his plea or sentencing. 9 The circuit court found appellant guilty and sentenced him to five years’ incarceration, with all but eighteen months suspended, and three years’ supervised probation. 10 On January 24, 2012, appellant filed a timely notice of appeal. STANDARD OF REVIEW When this Court reviews a conviction for the sufficiency of the evidence, our duty “is to determine whether, after reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, a rational trier of fact could have found each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Twine, 395 Md. at 554 , 910 A.2d 1132 .

If, however, determining the sufficiency of the evidence “ ‘involves an interpretation and application of Maryland statutory and case law, [this Court] must determine whether the lower court’s conclusions are legally correct under a de novo standard of review.’ ” Barnes v. State, 195 Md.App. 1, 6 , 5 A.3d 1103 (2010) (quoting Gray v. State, 388 Md. 366, 375 , 879 A.2d 1064 (2005)), vacated, 423 Md. 75 , 31 A.3d 203 (2011). Whether the prohibition against ex post facto laws contained in Article 17 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights precludes the State from requiring appellant to register as a sex offender presents a preliminary question of law that we review de novo. See Davis v. Slater, 383 Md. 599, 604 , 861 A.2d 78 (2004). ³⁶ DISCUSSION I. Sufficiency of the Evidence Appellant argues that under Doe v. Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services (“Doe I”), 430 Md. 535 , 62 A.3d 123 (2013), the State cannot legally require him to register as a sex offender, because MSORA was retroactively applied to him in violation of the ex post facto provisions of Article 17 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Appellant contends that, because the State cannot establish that he had a legal duty to register, there is insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction for failure to register under CP 2010 §§ 11-705 and ll-721(a).

Appellant asks this Court to both vacate his conviction for failure to register, and remand the instant case to the circuit court with the instruction to order (1) the removal of appellant’s name and likeness from the registry, and (2) his exemption from future registration. The State responds that Doe I is “factually and legally inapposite and, thus, does not equate to relief for [appellant].” Because the parties rely heavily on Doe I, we turn to the facts and holding of that opinion. Doe I In June 2014, the Court of Appeals issued a second opinion in the Doe matter, in which it concisely summarized the facts of Doe I as follows: In 2006, Doe pled guilty to and was convicted in the Circuit Court for Washington County of a single count of child sexual abuse arising out of an incident involving inappropriate contact with a thirteen-year-old student that occurred during the 1983-84 school year when Doe was a junior high school teacher. Doe was sentenced to ten years incarceration, with all but four and one half years suspended, and three years supervised probation upon his release.

Although Doe’s plea agreement did not address registration as a sex offender as one of the conditions of probation, Doe was ordered at sentencing to “register as a child sex offender.” He was also ordered to pay a $500 fine. Following his ³⁷ sentencing, Doe filed a Motion to Correct an Illegal Sentence challenging both the fine and the requirement that he register as a child sex offender. The Circuit Court agreed with Doe and issued an order striking the fine and the registration requirement. Doe was released from prison in December 2008.

On October 1, 2009, Doe’s probation officer directed him to register as a child sex offender. Doe maintained that he did not agree with the requirement, but, against the advice of counsel, he registered as a child sex offender in early October 2009. Dep’t of Pub. Safety & Corr.

Servs. v. Doe, 439 Md. 201, 208 , 94 A.3d 791 (2014). The Department ordered Doe to register as a sex offender in October 2009, because the 2009 amendment to MSORA required the registration of all sex offenders who had committed offenses before October 1, 1995, but who were convicted after that date (“2009 Retroactivity Provision”). Doe I, 430 Md. at 540, 62 A.3d 123 ; see CP 2009 § ll-702.1(c)(ii). In October 2009, after Doe complied with the registration order, he filed a civil complaint for declaratory judgment, which advanced three arguments, including that to require him to register, when he was not informed of that requirement when he pled guilty, would improperly render his guilty plea involuntary.

None of the arguments advanced in the Complaint, however, explicitly addressed the constitutionality of the registration requirement.... During the Circuit Court proceedings, the parties addressed the issues presented in [DoeJ’s Complaint. In addition, counsel for the State argued to the court that requiring [Doe] to register did not violate the prohibition against ex post facto laws. At the end of the hearing, the trial judge denied [Doe]’s request for declaratory relief and ordered that [Doe] “shall not be removed from the sex offender registry.” [Doe] noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals.

In [Doe]’s appeal, he once again contended that requiring him to register as a sex offender violated the terms of the plea agreement. In addition, [Doe] explicitly advanced challenges to the application of the statute on ex post facto, bill ³⁸ of attainder, equal protection, and due process grounds.... In an unreported opinion, the intermediate appellate court rejected all of [Doej’s arguments and affirmed the trial court’s judgment requiring [Doe] to remain on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry. Doe I, 430 Md. at 541-42, 62 A.3d 123 (footnotes omitted).

The Court of Appeals granted certiorari, and in a plurality opinion, held that “requiring [Doe] to register as a result of the 2009 and 2010 amendments violates the prohibition against ex post facto laws contained in Article 17 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights.” Id. at 537, 62 A.3d 123 (emphasis added). The Court concluded that, “[p]ursuant to our determination that [Doe] may not be compelled to register, his name and likeness shall be removed from the Maryland Sex Offender Registry.” Id. Application of Doe I The State’s Argument Under Sinclair v. State 11 The State contends that Doe I does not apply in part, because “[t]he procedural posture of the appeal in Doe