Doe v. Pataki

• Citation: 481 F.3d 69
• Decision Date: 08 March 2007
• Docket Number: Docket No. 06-3709-cv(CON).,Docket No. 06-2126-cv(L).
• Parties: John DOE, et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. George E. PATAKI, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of New York, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

481 F.3d 69

John DOE, et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. George E. PATAKI, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of New York, et al., Defendants-Appellants.

Docket No. 06-2126-cv(L).

Docket No. 06-3709-cv(CON).

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: August 30, 2006 and December 18, 2006.

Decided: March 8, 2007.

Richard Dearing, Asst. Solicitor Gen., New York, N.Y. (Eliot Spitzer, N.Y. State Atty. Gen., Louis H. Willenken, Asst. Atty. Gen., Michael S. Belohlavek, Senior Counsel, Office of the N.Y. State Atty. Gen., New York, N.Y., on the brief), for Defendants-Appellants.

Thomas O'Brien, The Legal Aid Society, New York, N.Y., for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Before: NEWMAN, CABRANES, and POOLER, Circuit Judges.

NEWMAN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents a novel issue arising in the context of interpreting a court-approved stipulation of settlement between private and governmental parties that is equivalent to a consent decree: do terms of the stipulation that recite provisions of state statutes in force at the time of the stipulation bind the governmental defendants to continue those provisions into the future notwithstanding later changes by a state legislature? This issue arises on an appeal by various New York State officials (collectively "the State") from two orders of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Denny Chin, District Judge) entered in the course of protracted litigation concerning New York's Sex Offender Registration Act ("SORA" or the "Act"). The Plaintiffs are a group of convicted sex offenders required to register pursuant to the SORA. The District Court's orders, entered April 27, 2006, and July 18, 2006 (explained in detail below), have the effect of preventing the State from applying to the Plaintiffs recent statutory changes that (a) extended the time that many of the Plaintiffs are subject to the Act's registration requirements, and (b) broadened for some of the Plaintiffs the extent of the community notification required by the Act. We conclude that the stipulation was negotiated to avoid litigation over the procedures by which the Plaintiffs' risk levels would be redetermined, that the Plaintiffs are entitled to the benefit of those bargained-for procedures, that the Plaintiffs did not bargain to have the stipulation assure them the continued scope of state statutes existing at the time of the stipulation, and that the stipulation cannot be interpreted to preclude the application of subsequent legislative changes on matters distinct from the subject matter of the litigation. We therefore vacate the challenged orders.

Background

The Sex Offender Registration Act. New York enacted the SORA, New York's version of a so-called "Megan's Law," in July 1995. See 1995 N.Y. Laws 2870 (codified at N.Y. Correct. Law §§ 168 to 168-w (McKinney 2003)). The SORA aims both to protect members of the public, especially vulnerable populations, from sex offenders by notifying them of the presence of sex offenders in their communities and to enhance law enforcement authorities' ability to investigate and prosecute sex offenses. See id. at 2870, § 1. To achieve these goals, the Act requires all convicted sex offenders ("the registrants") to register with law enforcement authorities and provides for the disclosure of information about the registrants to local law enforcement authorities, entities with vulnerable populations, and the public at large in enumerated circumstances.

All registrants remain in the SORA database for at least ten years, see N.Y. Correct. Law § 168-h(1), and the public may find out whether any particular individual is in the database, see id. § 168-p(1). Beyond these basic provisions, the Act varies the duration of registration and the extent of public notification depending on which of three risk categories is applicable. State officials place registrants in a risk category based on the perceived risk that a sex offender will commit another offense, see id. § 168-l (6). Under the original version of the Act, low-risk, or "level one" offenders, were obliged to remain registered for ten years, see id. § 168-h(1), and public notification was limited to responding to an inquiry concerning a particular individual (i.e., the database itself could not be searched, and information about level one offenders could not be disseminated to a member of the public without a specific inquiry). Moderate-risk, or "level two" offenders, also registered for ten years, see id., and local law enforcement agencies, without awaiting inquiry from the public, could disseminate certain information about level two offenders to entities with vulnerable populations, see id. § 168-l (6)(b). High-risk, or "level three" offenders, were subject to a lifetime registration requirement, see id. § 168-h(2), and certain information about them was contained in a publicly accessible subdirectory of the database, in addition to being disseminated by law enforcement authorities to vulnerable entities, see id. §§ 168-l (6)(c), 168-q. Level three offenders received the right to petition for relief from the registration and notification requirements after thirteen years. See id. § 168-o(1). The Act specified procedures for the determination of a sex offender's risk level.

Since its enactment, the SORA has undergone several amendments relevant to this litigation. In 1999, following the District Court's ruling that the Act's original procedures for determining risk levels violated sex offenders' procedural due process rights, see Doe v. Pataki ("Doe-SORA III"), 3 F.Supp.2d 456, 473 (S.D.N.Y. 1998), the New York legislature amended the SORA to incorporate the procedural due process protections required by Doe-SORA III, see 1999 N.Y. Laws 3061 (codified at scattered sections of N.Y. Correct. Law § 168 et seq.). The 1999 amendment applied prospectively to all risk determination hearings conducted after its effective date but did not provide for redetermination of risk levels previously assigned.

Next, in 2002, the SORA was again amended to create the classifications of "sexual predator," "sexually violent offender," and "predicate sex offender." See 2002 N.Y. Laws 66 (codified at scattered sections of N.Y. Correct. Law § 168 et seq.). After March 11, 2002 — the effective date of the 2002 amendment—a sex offender's classification as a "sexual predator," "sexually violent offender," or "predicate sex offender" required lifetime registration, regardless of risk level. See N.Y. Correct. Law § 168-h(2). A ten-year registration period applied to all other sex offenders whose risk levels were determined after March 11, 2002. See id. § 168-h(1). Sex offenders already classified as level one or level two risks as of March 11, 2002, retained the ten-year registration requirement. See id. Similarly, sex offenders already classified as level three risks continued under an obligation to register for life. See id. § 168-h(2). The 2002 amendment specified that the amended procedures for calculating the duration of an offender's registration requirement did not apply to the group of sex offenders whom the legislature considered to be members of the plaintiff class in the pending litigation.¹ See 2002 N.Y. Laws 66, 78.

In January 2006, as the ten-year registration period for many level one and level two registrants was approaching an end, the legislature amended the SORA to increase the length of the registration requirement "to enhance public safety and provide better tracking and monitoring of sex offenders." 2006 N.Y. Laws 1, § 1. The January 2006 amendment, which prompted the pending round of litigation, increased the registration requirement for level one offenders from ten to twenty years and required level two offenders to register for life, effective as of January 18, 2006. See id. § 3 (to be codified at N.Y. Correct. Law § 168-h). The January 2006 amendment gave level two offenders who are not designated as "sexual predators," "sexually violent offenders," or "predicate sex offenders" the right to petition for relief after thirty years. See id. at 2, § 5 (to be codified at N.Y. Correct. Law § 168-o).

The most recent amendment, effective June 23, 2006, changed the scope of community notification about level one and level two offenders. See 2006 N.Y. Laws 459. Under the June 2006 amendment, law enforcement agencies may disseminate information about level one offenders to entities with vulnerable populations, as previously authorized for level two offenders. See id. § 1(a) (to be codified at N.Y. Correct. Law. § 168-l (6)(a)). In addition, information about level two offenders will now be maintained in the publicly accessible subdirectory that previously contained information only about level three offenders. See id. § 1(b) (to be codified at N.Y. Correct. Law. § 168-l (6)(b)).

To summarize, the SORA, as it currently exists, provides the following. Level one offenders, other than those who have been classified as "sexual predators," "sexually violent offenders," or "predicate sex offenders," must register for twenty years, and information about all level one offenders can be distributed to entities with vulnerable populations but is not maintained in the publicly accessible subdirectory. Level two and level three offenders and all offenders who have been classified as "sexual predators," "sexually violent offenders," or "predicate sex offenders," regardless of risk level, must register for life, though level two offenders who have not received such classifications may petition for relief after thirty years. Level two and three offenders are identified in a publicly accessible subdirectory.

The pending litigation. In March 1996, the Plaintiffs—convicted sex offenders who were incarcerated, on parole, or on probation when the original SORA took effect on January 21, 1996—filed a class action in the District Court,...