Doe v. Haslam
| Decision Date | 09 November 2017 |
| Docket Number | NO. 3:16-cv-02862,NO. 3:17-cv-00264,3:16-cv-02862,3:17-cv-00264 |
| Parties | JOHN DOE and JOHN DOE #2 Plaintiffs, v. WILLIAM E. HASLAM, Governor of the State of Tennessee, and MARK GWYN, Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, in their official capacities, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before the Court are Motions to Dismiss (Doc Nos. 10 & 26) filed by Defendants Governor William E. Haslam and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation ("TBI") Director Mark Gwyn in two cases that have been consolidated for the purposes of case management, discovery, and pretrial motions. For the reasons below, the Motions will be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Count 2, 3, 6, and 7 of the Complaints will be DISMISSED. Counts 8 and 9 will be DISMISSED only insofar as they challenge Tennessee's restrictions on where Plaintiffs may obtain treatment, and Defendants' requests to dismiss those claims and Count 1 will otherwise be DENIED.
In early 1994, John Doe ("Doe #1") pleaded nolo contendere to two counts of attempted aggravated sexual battery against his daughter and was sentenced to five years of probation. (Doc.No. 1 at ¶¶ 17-18.) He completed his sentence in 1999, and since then has lived what he characterizes as a productive life as a commercial landlord and commercial real estate developer. (Id. at ¶¶ 18-19.) He has not been convicted of any crime since his conviction in 1994. (Id. at ¶ 21.) Doe maintains that he was innocent of the crimes with which he was charged and that he accepted a plea in order to spare his daughter the ordeal of a trial. (Id. at ¶ 17.) For the purposes of this matter, it suffices to say that he was convicted of the crimes at issue and that any actions forming the factual predicates of his convictions took place prior to May of 1994.
In 2000, John Doe #2 pleaded either nolo contendere or guilty—he says that he does not recall which—to three counts of sexual battery of his ex-wife's niece, who had been under the age of thirteen at the time. (Case No. 3:17-cv-00264, Doc. No. 1 at ¶ 17.2) The alleged battery occurred almost ten years before Doe #2's plea. (Id.) Doe #2 was sentenced to six years of probation, which he completed in 2006. (Id. at ¶ 18.) Since his conviction, Doe #2 has provided accounting and management services and led what he characterizes as a productive life. (Id. at ¶ 19.) Like Doe #1, Doe #2 maintains his innocence, but, as with Doe #1, it suffices to say that he was convicted of the crimes at issue and that any conduct underlying his convictions occurred prior to May of 1994.
On May 10, 1994, Governor Ned Ray McWherter signed into law Tennessee's Sexual Offender Registration and Monitoring Act ("SORMA"). 1994 Tenn. Pub. Laws, ch. 976. SORMA required TBI to "establish, maintain, and update a centralized record system of sexual offender registration and verification information." Id. § 7(a). "Sexual offender" was defined as an individual who had been convicted of one of a number of enumerated offenses under Tennessee criminal law—or who was convicted of committing the equivalent behavior in another state—unless the offender had been wholly released without supervision from incarceration, probation, or parole prior to January 1, 1995. Id. § 3(2)-(3). Accordingly, SORMA applied to some, but not all, qualifying offenders whose criminal acts occurred before the law's enactment.
SORMA required any individual convicted of a sexual offense to register within ten days of release without supervision from probation, parole, or incarceration. Id. § 4. TBI was then instructed to send the registrant a verification and monitoring form every ninety days, which the registrant was required to complete and return within ten days of receipt. Id. § 5. In addition to these periodic updates, a registrant had an ongoing duty to complete a new form within ten days of any change of residence or entry into a municipality or county for temporary residence or domicile. Id. § 4. SORMA imposed no in-person registration or reporting duty, relying instead on the prescribed paper forms. Id. The information in the SORMA registry was expressly designated as confidential, with the exception that TBI or a local law enforcement agency could "release relevant information deemed necessary to protect the public concerning a specific sexual offender." Id. § 7(c). An offender registered under SORMA was permitted to petition a court for relief from its requirements ten years after his or her release from supervision. Id. § 8(a). The court, upon consideration of several factors including the age of the offender's victims and the behavior of the offender since his offense, was required to grant the petition if it found the registrant had complied with the Act, was rehabilitated, and did not pose a threat to public safety. Id. § 8(c). If the petition was granted, the TBI was required to expunge the registrant's data from its registry. Id.
In the ensuing decade, the General Assembly repeatedly amended SORMA either to expand its scope, increase the reporting requirements placed on registered offenders, or reduce the level of confidentiality of registry information. See 1996 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 834, § 1 (); 1997 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 455, § 3 (); 1997 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 461, § 2 (); 1997 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 466, § 1 (); 2000 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 882, § 1 (); 2000 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 997, § 1-2 (); 2000 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 997, § 3 (); 2002 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 469, §§ 3, 5, and 11 ().
SORMA did not expressly restrict where a registrant could live, work, or travel until 2003. (Doc. No. 1 at ¶ 55; Case No. 3:17-cv-00264, Doc. No. 1 at ¶ 39.) In 2003, however, the General Assembly enacted legislation prohibiting a SORMA registered offender from: establishing a residence or accepting employment with 1,000 feet of a school, a child care facility, or the home of their victim or the victim's immediate family member; coming within 100 feet of the victim; establishing a residence or other living accommodation with a minor who was not the registeredoffender's own child; and establishing a residence with the registered offender's own minor child, if any child of the offender had been the offender's victim or if the offender's parental rights had been or were being terminated. 2003 Tenn. Pub. Acts, ch. 95, § 1. A violation of any of the 2003 prohibitions was a Class A misdemeanor. Id.
In 2004, the Tennessee General Assembly repealed SORMA and replaced it with the Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Act ("Act"), which continues, in amended form, today. 2004 Tenn. Pub. Laws, ch. 921. The Act continued the State's registration system, albeit with some changes. Carrying on a distinction first introduced to SORMA in 2000, the Act classifies registrants as either "sexual offenders" or "violent sexual offenders," depending on the offense of which that registrant was convicted. Individuals classified as sexual offenders include those convicted of sexual battery, statutory rape, aggravated prostitution, sexual exploitation of a minor, incest, indecent exposure (upon the third such conviction), and false imprisonment of a minor who was not the offender's own child—an offense that, in and of itself, contains no expressly sexual element, see Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-302 (). Id. § 1(16). Also included as sexual offenders are any offenders convicted of attempt, solicitation, conspiracy, criminal responsibility, facilitation, or being an accessory after the fact with regard to any of the qualifying offenses. Id. Individuals classified as violent sexual offenders include those convicted of rape, aggravated rape, rape of a child, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated or especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, aggravated or especially aggravated kidnapping of a minor other than the offender's own child, sexual battery by an authority figure, solicitation of aminor, and attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy with regard to any of the aforementioned qualifying offenses. Id. §1(24).
Under the Act, sexual offenders must verify their registration information on an annual basis, and violent sexual offenders must do so quarterly. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-39-204(b)-(c). In contrast to SORMA's system of TBI-propagated forms, the Act requires offenders to register and report in person to a designated law...
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