State v. Shaylor

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for failure to register as a drug offender under the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA). At the time of Defendant’s drug conviction in 2002, KORA did not impose a requirement to register on drug offenders. In 2007, however, the legislature amended KORA to impose registration requirements on offenders such as Defendant. On appeal, Defendant argued that her failure to register conviction - based on the retroactive application of KORA’s 2007 amendments - violated the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution and Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000). The Supreme Court held (1) Defendant did not demonstrate that KORA’s registration requirements constitute punishment, and therefore, the retroactive application of KORA registration to her drug conviction does not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause; and (2) this court has repeatedly rejected claims similar to Defendant’s Apprendi claim and therefore declines to address that issue further in this opinion. View "State v. Shaylor" on Justia Law