State v. Dickerson

• Decision Date: 03 February 2006
• Docket Number: No. 30367.,30367.
• Citation: 142 Idaho 514,129 P.3d 1263
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Thomas C. DICKERSON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals

129 P.3d 1263

142 Idaho 514

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Thomas C. DICKERSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 30367.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

February 3, 2006.

Molly J. Huskey, State Appellate Public Defender; Eric D. Fredericksen, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. Eric D. Fredericksen argued.

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Kenneth K. Jorgensen, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued.

LANSING, Judge.

This case involves the interpretation and the constitutionality of former Idaho Code § 18-8304, a component of the Sex Offender Registration Notification and Community Right-to-Know Act ("the Act"), as it existed in 2003. Thomas C. Dickerson contends that the charge against him for failure to register as a sex offender was improper because he was not required to register under the provisions of I.C. § 18-8304. Alternatively, he argues that if the statute is interpreted to have imposed a registration requirement upon him, then it violated his constitutional right to travel guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. We hold that I.C. § 18-8304(1)(b) imposed a registration requirement upon Dickerson at the time he was charged but that the statute, as then written, was constitutionally unsound as applied to him.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1990, in the state of Washington, Dickerson was convicted of child rape in the second degree. In 2002, he moved to Idaho and did not register as a sex offender. In May 2003, Dickerson was charged with failure to register as a sex offender, in violation of the former I.C. §§ 18-8304 and 18-8307. He filed a motion to dismiss the charge, asserting that he was not within the class of persons required to register and that if the Act was interpreted to encompass him, it was unconstitutional in its application to interstate travelers. The district court denied Dickerson's motion. Thereafter, Dickerson entered a conditional guilty plea, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Dickerson Was Required to Register as a Sex Offender According to the Terms of Former I.C. § 18-8304(1)(b).

At the time of Dickerson's alleged violation, I.C. § 18-8307(1)(a) provided that within ten days of coming into any Idaho county to establish a residence or domicile, an "offender" must register with the sheriff of that county. "Offender" was defined as "an individual convicted of an offense listed and described in section 18-8304, Idaho Code, or a substantially similar offense under the laws of another state or in a federal, tribal or military court or the court of another country." I.C. § 18-8303(8). The then-effective version of Idaho Code § 18-8304 provided, in relevant part:

(1) The provisions of this chapter shall apply to any person who:

(a) On or after July 1, 1993, is convicted of the crime, or an attempt, a solicitation, or a conspiracy to commit a crime provided for in [various Idaho Code sections defining sex offenses].

(b) Enters the state on or after July 1, 1993, and who has been convicted of any crime, an attempt, a solicitation or a conspiracy to commit a crime in another state, territory, commonwealth, or other jurisdiction of the United States, including tribal courts and military courts, that is substantially equivalent to the offenses listed in subsection (1)(a) of this section.

(c) Pleads guilty to or has been found guilty of a crime covered in this chapter prior to July 1, 1993, and the person, as a result of the offense, is incarcerated in a county jail facility or a penal facility or is under probation or parole supervision, on or after July 1, 1993.

2001 Idaho Sess. Laws, ch. 194, § 2, pp. 660-61.¹ The characteristic of this statute that gives rise to this appeal is the distinction between the time period under subsection (a) for which convictions in the state of Idaho will require registration and the time period under subsection (b) for convictions committed elsewhere by someone who enters the state after July 1, 1993. By the statute's literal terms, under subsection (a) a person convicted of one of the designated offenses in Idaho was required to register only if the offense occurred on or after July 1, 1993, but under subsection (b), anyone who had ever been convicted of an equivalent crime in any other jurisdiction had to register if he or she moved to this state on or after July 1, 1993.

Dickerson was charged under subsection (b) because he moved to the state of Idaho after July 1, 1993, having been convicted of a sex offense in 1990 in the state of Washington. Dickerson argues that as a matter of statutory interpretation, he was not required to register as a sex offender because the same time strictures in subsection (a) that triggered the registration requirement for an Idaho conviction should be deemed incorporated into subsection (b) for foreign convictions. He argues that the language of subsection (b) requiring the offense to be "substantially equivalent to the offenses listed in subsection (1)(a) of this section" incorporated not only the nature of the offense, but also the qualification that the conviction occur "[o]n or after July 1, 1993."²

The interpretation of a statute is an issue of law over which this Court exercises free review. State v. Parker, 141 Idaho 775, 777, 118 P.3d 107, 109 (2005); State v. Yager, 139 Idaho 680, 689, 85 P.3d 656, 665 (2004). If the statutory language is unambiguous, "`the clearly expressed intent of the legislative body must be given effect, and there is no occasion for a court to consider rules of statutory construction.'" Garza v. State, 139 Idaho 533, 536, 82 P.3d 445, 448 (2003) (quoting Payette River Property Owners Ass'n v. Board of Comm'rs of Valley County, 132 Idaho 551, 557, 976 P.2d 477, 483 (1999)). The plain meaning of a statute therefore will prevail unless clearly expressed legislative intent is contrary or unless plain meaning leads to absurd results. Garza, 139 Idaho at 536, 82 P.3d at 448. Where the statute is ambiguous, we attempt to ascertain legislative intent, and in construing the statute we may examine the language used, the reasonableness of the proposed interpretations, and the policy behind the statute. Kelso & Irwin, P.A. v. State Ins. Fund, 134 Idaho 130, 134, 997 P.2d 591, 595 (2000). See Garza, 139 Idaho at 535-36, 82 P.3d at 447-48. Courts may not, however, under the guise of judicial construction, rewrite a statute to save it from constitutional infirmity. See Powers v. Canyon County, 108 Idaho 967, 972, 703 P.2d 1342, 1347 (1985); State v. Lindquist, 99 Idaho 766, 770, 589 P.2d 101, 105 (1979).

Here, we find no ambiguity in the statutory language. Subsection (a) clearly states that if the conviction was for a violation of Idaho law, the registration requirement applies only to convictions occurring on or after July 1, 1993, but subsection (b) contains no such temporal limitation for convictions from another jurisdiction. It is not within our purview to add a temporal limitation to subsection (b) that the legislature did not place there. Rather, we must give effect to the clear legislative expression. If a statute as written is socially or otherwise unsound, the power to correct it is legislative, not judicial. See State v. Schwartz, 139 Idaho 360, 362, 79 P.3d 719, 721 (2003). Accordingly, we hold that the Act required Dickerson to register as a sex offender, due to his 1990 conviction in the state of Washington, upon moving to Idaho after July 1, 1993.

B. Former I.C. § 18-8304(1)(b) Violates the Fourteenth Amendment

Having determined that the former I.C. § 18-8304(1)(b) applied to Dickerson, we must address Dickerson's constitutional challenge to this statute. He contends that the disparity in the statute's treatment of in-state offenders versus those who were convicted elsewhere and subsequently moved to Idaho violated the constitutional right to travel.³ The constitutionality of a statute is a question of law that we review de novo. State v. Hart, 135 Idaho 827, 829, 25 P.3d 850, 852 (2001). A party challenging the constitutionality of a statute must overcome a strong presumption of validity. State v. Cobb, 132 Idaho 195, 197, 969 P.2d 244, 246 (1998).

The former I.C. § 18-8304(1) created a disparity between sex offenders who moved to Idaho after mid-1993 and offenders who were longer-term residents. A longer term resident with a pre-1993 conviction from Idaho or elsewhere did not have to register, while a person with such a conviction who moved to Idaho after June 1993 was required to do so, no matter how old the conviction. Anomalously, a person who had been convicted before 1993 in a foreign court (including a tribal court or federal court) while residing in Idaho did not have to register if he remained an Idaho resident, but if the individual moved out of state and subsequently returned to live in Idaho after 1993, the duty to register arose. Thus, whether the Act imposed a duty to register upon a sex offender turned upon whether and on what date the individual moved to Idaho.

The United States Supreme Court has long held that the federal constitution guarantees a fundamental right to travel from one state to another. Saenz v. Roe, 526 U.S. 489, 119 S.Ct. 1518, 143 L.Ed.2d 689 (1999); Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969); United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745, 86 S.Ct. 1170, 16 L.Ed.2d 239 (1966). The Supreme Court has described the right to travel as follows:

The "right to travel" . . . embraces at least three different components. It protects the right of a citizen of one State to enter and to leave another State, the right to be treated as a welcome visitor rather than an unfriendly alien when temporarily present in the second State, and, for those travelers who elect to become permanent residents, the right to be treated like other citizens of that State.

Saenz, 526 U.S. at 500, 119 S.Ct. at 1525, 143 L.Ed.2d at 702. Dickerson...