Garrison v. State, 2005-KA-01512-SCT.

• Decision Date: 14 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 2005-KA-01512-SCT.,2005-KA-01512-SCT.
• Citation: 950 So.2d 990
• Parties: Ralph GARRISON v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

950 So.2d 990

Ralph GARRISON v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2005-KA-01512-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 14, 2006.

Rehearing Denied March 1, 2007.

Thomas C. Levidiotis, Oxford, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Scott Stuart, attorney for appellee.

En Banc.

RANDOLPH, Justice, for the Court.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. Ralph Garrison ("Garrison") pled guilty to one count of rape and two counts of armed robbery in January of 1978. Garrison served his sentence and was released from prison in 1992. In 2000, the Mississippi Legislature enacted Miss.Code Ann. Section 45-33-27, a statute requiring sex offenders to register with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. This enactment by the Legislature repealed earlier versions of sexual offender registration laws.¹

¶ 2. On September 15, 2004, Garrison was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender. Garrison was then indicted by a Lafayette County Grand Jury on one count of failure to register as a sex offender and was charged as a habitual offender. Garrison was tried in Lafayette County Circuit Court. At trial, Garrison argued that the State should be required to prove not only his act was willful, but also that he received actual notice of his duty to register. The trial court refused instructions on both issues. Garrison was convicted by a Lafayette County jury for his failure to register.

¶ 3. The trial judge subsequently held a hearing as to whether Garrison was a habitual offender. The trial judge found Garrison was a habitual offender pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. Sect. 99-19-83. Garrison filed a Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict, or in the alternative, Motion for New Trial. Both were denied by the trial court. Garrison timely filed this appeal and raises only the two following issues, verbatim ac litteratim: (1) Whether the trial court erred by overruling a timely Defense Motion for J.N.O.V., or in the Alternative, Motion for New Trial, when there was no proof offered as to Garrison's notice of the requirement of Miss.Code Ann. Sect. 45-33-27 for him to register as a sex offender, the law's ex post facto status as applied to Garrison; and (2) Whether the trial court determined facts giving rise to Garrison's lifetime habitual status improperly in light of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004).

ANALYSIS

I. Whether the trial court erred by overruling a timely Defense Motion for J.N.O.V., or in the Alternative, Motion for New Trial, when there was no proof offered as to Garrison's notice of the requirement of Miss.Code Ann. Sect. 45-33-27 for him to register as a sex offender, the law's ex post facto status as applied to Garrison.

¶ 4. "In 1994, Congress enacted legislation that conditioned continued federal funding of state law enforcement on state adoption of sex offender registration laws and set minimum standards for such state programs." State v. Bryant, 359 N.C. 554, 614 S.E.2d 479, 482 (2005). See Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 14071-14072. Further, "the United States Supreme Court recently acknowledged, `by 1996, every State, the District of Columbia, and the Federal Government had enacted some variation of [a sex offender registration and community notification program].'" 614 S.E.2d at 482 (quoting Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84, 90, 123 S.Ct. 1140, 155 L.Ed.2d 164, 175 (2003) (holding that Alaska's Sex Offender Registration Act is nonpunitive; thus, its retroactive application does not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution)). The Mississippi statute is analogous to that of Alaska in that it establishes a civil, non-punitive regulatory scheme. The holding of the Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe is applicable in the case sub judice. Accordingly, Garrison's ex post facto argument is without merit.

¶ 5. Although not artfully pled, Garrison's claims that he lacked notice of the registration requirement which resulted in a denial of his constitutional right to due process, as promulgated by the United States Supreme Court in Lambert v. California, 355 U.S. 225, 78 S.Ct. 240, 2 L.Ed.2d 228 (1957). This issue was raised at trial and in this appeal.

¶ 6. The Lambert decision is very constricted. Likewise today's ruling is constricted to the facts of this case and should not be construed or utilized for precedent except in limited circumstances. The general rule that ignorance of the law or a mistake of law is no defense to criminal prosecution is deeply rooted in the American legal system. Bryant, 614 S.E.2d at 486. See, e.g., Liparota v. United States, 471 U.S. 419, 441, 105 S.Ct. 2084, 85 L.Ed.2d 434 (1985) (White, J., dissenting); Lambert v. California, 355 U.S. 225, 228, 78 S.Ct. 240, 2 L.Ed.2d 228 (1957); Shevlin-Carpenter Co. v. Minnesota, 218 U.S. 57, 68, 30 S.Ct. 663, 54 L.Ed. 930 (1910); Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 167, 25 L.Ed. 244 (1879); Barlow v. United States, 32 U.S. (7 Pet.) 404, 411, 8 L.Ed. 728 (1833); United States v. Smith, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 153, 182, 5 L.Ed. 57 (1820) (Livingston, J., dissenting); O.W. Holmes, Jr., The Common Law 47-48 (1881).

¶ 7. Mississippi jurisprudence on this issue is likewise deeply rooted. "It is a familiar rule that ignorance of the law excuses no one, or that every person is charged with knowledge of the law." Hoskins v. Howard, 214 Miss. 481, 59 So.2d 263, 269 (1952). See also Whitton v. State, 37 Miss. (8 George) 379, 382 (1859). However, the Lambert Court deviated from the long-established principle of ignorantia juris non excusat, and we are bound to follow the rule of law.

¶ 8. Lambert has been distinguished on sixty-three separate occasions and criticized on three, including by the Fifth Circuit. However, it is not the prerogative of this Court to question the wisdom or fallacy upon which the Supreme Court decided Lambert. This Court notes that it gave due regard to the sound, well-reasoned dissent in Lambert which stated,

The present laws of the United States and of the forty-eight states are thick with provisions that command that some things not be done and others be done, although persons convicted under such provisions may have had no awareness of what the law required or that what they did was wrongdoing.... Many instances of this are to be found in regulatory measures in the exercise of what is called the police power where the emphasis of the statute is evidently upon achievement of some social betterment rather than the punishment of the crimes as in cases of mala in se.

Lambert v. California, 355 U.S. 225, 231, 78 S.Ct. 240, 244, 2 L.Ed.2d 228 (1957) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting). The Lambert dissent further warned the majority's decision would "turn out to be an isolated deviation from the strong current of precedents — a derelict on the waters of the law." Id. at 232, 78 S.Ct. 240 (Frankfurter, J., dissenting). Nonetheless, the Supreme Court has not overruled Lambert; and therefore, we are bound to follow it. This Court recognizes, as state court jurists, we are constrained to follow the mandate of the U.S. Supreme Court in order to perform our constitutional duty.

¶ 9. Furthermore, today's decision should not overshadow the noble intent of the Legislature in enacting sex offender registration laws, as the "victims of sex assault are most often juveniles and when convicted sex offenders reenter society, they are much more likely than any other type of offender to be rearrested for a new rape or sexual assault." Bryant, 614 S.E.2d at 487.

¶ 10. In light of today's decision, we re-affirm our jurisprudence and precedent. Except in the most limited of circumstances, Lambert like, a claim of ignorance of the law will be soundly rejected by this Court.

¶ 11. The issue of whether Garrison, beyond a reasonable doubt, had actual or probable knowledge of the duty to register as a sex offender is a factual issue for a jury to decide. Garrison requested jury instructions requiring notice, which were refused. In the limited context presented by this case, that refusal was error.

¶ 12. Lambert states, "The question is whether a registration act of this character violates due process where it is applied to a person who has no actual knowledge of his duty to register and where no showing is made of the probability of such knowledge." Lambert v. California, 355 U.S. at 228, 78 S.Ct. 240 (emphasis added). The Lambert Court established the following guidelines: In cases where circumstances are completely lacking which might move one to inquire as to the necessity of registration and the defendant's conduct is merely passive, the State must prove actual knowledge of the duty to register or proof of the probability of such knowledge and a subsequent failure to comply with the duty to register. See Lambert, 355 U.S. at 228-29, 78 S.Ct. 240.

¶ 13. In order to sustain a conviction, the jury must find beyond a reasonable doubt that the State has proved that Garrison had actual knowledge of the duty to register, or that the State proved the probability of such knowledge. If, however, the State fails to convince the jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Garrison knew of the duty to register or of the probability of such knowledge, then the defendant should be exonerated.

II. Whether the trial court determined facts giving rise to Garrison's lifetime habitual status improperly in light of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004).

¶ 14. As we are remanding this case for a new trial, we also address Issue II. Garrison's claim of a violation of his rights in light of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), is not well founded as Blakely is distinguishable from the case sub judice. Blakely contested a State of Washington sentencing guideline statute and procedure which allowed additional fact finding by a trial judge, for...