People v. Mosley
People v. Mosley
Opinion
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS OPINION IS DEPUBLISHED UPON GRANTING OF PETITION FOR REVIEW. THE OPINION APPEARS BELOW WITH A GRAY BACKGROUND.] [EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 1092
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 1093
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 1094 OPINION
We revisit defendant Steven Lloyd Mosley, who a jury acquitted of any sexual offense. The jury found him guilty only of misdemeanor assault. Yet the court ordered defendant to register as a sex offender based upon its own factual findings about his motivations — facts not proved beyond a reasonable doubt to the jury.
In a prior opinion, we held the facts supporting imposition of discretionary sex offender registration must be found beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury. Defendant has the right to a jury trial on any facts (other than a prior conviction) that increase his offense's penalty beyond the statutory maximum. (Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000)
The California Supreme Court directed that we reconsider the matter in light of In re E.J. (2010)
We leave the substance of the sex offender registration scheme untouched. Courts may impose discretionary sex offender registration; registered sex offenders may be subject to the residency restriction. We hold only that imposing the residency restriction through discretionary sex offender registration as part of the sentencing on the underlying offense increases the penalty for that offense beyond the statutory maximum. Accordingly, the facts supporting the imposition of the registration requirement must be found true by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. That was not done here, so we modify the judgment by striking the sex offender registration requirement, and affirm.
L.C. met defendant in June 2003, while she was visiting her grandmother at an Anaheim apartment complex. Defendant was a friend of a boy named B.J., who lived at the apartment complex and whom L.C. had met earlier. L.C.'s grandmother and aunt were sitting down by the pool one night while L.C. hung out with defendant, B.J., and her older brother. L.C. told defendant she was 12 years old. They talked for about 10 minutes, then L.C. went back inside her grandmother's apartment. Later that night, L.C. went to the laundry room. She ran into B.J. and defendant on her way back. Defendant walked up behind her and, when she turned around, he gave her "basically just like a peck" of a kiss. L.C. went back to her grandmother's apartment.
Either the next day or a few days later, L.C. was getting ready to leave her grandmother's apartment and return home to northern California. That afternoon, she was in the apartment building's carport watching her younger cousin ride his scooter. Defendant walked up to her.
Moments later, L.C.'s grandmother went out to check on L.C. She saw defendant reaching out for L.C. and trying to kiss her while she was backing away. His hands touched her somewhere on her upper body. Her grandmother called out to them. Defendant pushed L.C. away and ran off. L.C. went into her grandmother's apartment. The grandmother later told a defense investigator L.C. had asked her, "Please don't tell my mother."
Weeks later, back home in northern California, L.C. told her father defendant had sexually assaulted her. Her father called the local county *Page 1096 sheriff's office. A deputy sheriff interviewed L.C. She told him she was standing at the carport when defendant grabbed her arms, pushed her against a pole, leaned against her, and grabbed her buttocks and breasts. They slid off the pole, and defendant forced her backwards against a wall. He pulled down his shorts, "unbuckled" her shorts, and raped her for five minutes. L.C. told the deputy her grandmother and brother came to the carport; she explained the two of them could only see L.C.'s and defendant's heads because they were hidden behind a car. She did not tell the deputy defendant had kissed her before. She did not tell the deputy defendant kissed her on her neck in the carport.
An Orange County Sheriff's Office investigator interviewed L.C. the next week. L.C. told the investigator she had kissed defendant the day before the incident at the carport. She told him defendant walked up to her at the carport and immediately grabbed her, without talking to her first. Defendant pinned her against a pole, then pushed her against a wall. They were partly hidden behind a car. She mumbled when the investigator asked to clarify details about the sexual assault. The investigator spoke to L.C. again in June 2005 and September 2005. In one of these interviews, L.C. claimed defendant grabbed her and kissed her on the stairs to the laundry room the day before the carport incident. In the September 2005 interview, L.C. did not mention defendant pushing her against a pole in the carport. The grandmother told the investigator at a June 2005 interview she saw defendant hugging and kissing L.C.
In October 2005, the Orange County District Attorney charged defendant by information with one count of committing a lewd act upon a child under 14. (Pen. Code, §
The Trial
L.C. testified at the January 2007 trial. She stated defendant had kissed her once before the carport incident, a detail she left out from her first police interview. She testified defendant walked up to her at the carport, and they "were just talking about stuff like what he was doing and — for the past couple days." She later testified her two brothers were with her when defendant approached her at the carport, but they left. Defendant started kissing her neck and tried to kiss her on the mouth — he did not grab her initially — but she moved off of the pole against which she had been leaning and backed away from him. Defendant pursued her into a corner. He put his *Page 1097 hand down her pants and grabbed her buttocks, rubbed her between her legs, "had both of his hands on [her] wrists where [she] couldn't move," put a hand up her shirt and bra, pulled his shorts down, and unzipped her "skort" (shorts that look like a skirt) and pulled one of its legs to the side. He inserted his penis into her vagina "for about maybe two minutes." Her grandmother walked up and yelled at defendant. L.C. initially testified defendant pulled up his shorts and fled, but later testified he had already pulled up his shorts before her grandmother arrived. Her grandmother asked her, "What were you doing? Why was he standing that close to you?"
L.C.'s grandmother also testified. She stated she went out to the carport to check on L.C. and her little brothers because she had seen the boys running around and wanted to know exactly where they were. She did not remember either boy coming to get her. The grandmother recanted her statement to the police about seeing defendant hugging and kissing L.C. Instead, she testified defendant and L.C. were "struggling," which she clarified as defendant reaching towards L.C. and touching her somewhere on the upper body. The grandmother could see defendant still had his shorts up; she could not see his underwear or buttocks. L.C.'s clothing did not seem out of order, and her grandmother did not recall L.C. having to rearrange it. L.C. seemed scared to her grandmother, but was not crying. The grandmother denied L.C. had asked her, "Please don't tell my mother."
L.C.'s brothers also testified. One testified he saw L.C. standing with her back to the post, while defendant had his shorts down around his knees. He could see defendant's underwear. The other brother testified he saw L.C. standing with her back to the wall, while defendant had his shorts and his underwear down around his knees. He could see defendant's bare buttocks. Upon seeing this, the brother hopped off his skateboard and walked — not ran — back to the apartment to get the grandmother. He told her, "there's this guy out there on [L.C.] and she keeps telling him no." The brother testified the grandmother "ran out there" to get L.C. As L.C. walked back to the apartment after defendant ran off, she was crying.
The defense closing argument focused on witness credibility. Defense counsel stated, "I told you in my opening, credibility is the issue here. . . . It all boils down to the witnesses and whether or not you believe them." Defense counsel walked the jury through L.C.'s and her grandmother's statements to the police and the trial testimony of L.C., her grandmother, and the brothers, pointing out discrepancies among the accounts. She stated, "[t]hey're not little inconsistencies. . . . These are big inconsistencies that matter."
Defense counsel urged the jury to consider finding defendant guilty of the lesser included offense of simple assault. (§ 240.) She argued, "There's also *Page 1098 another lesser included offense that the district attorney did not tell you about, which will be in your [jury instruction] packet. It's simple misdemeanor battery [sic]. [¶] If you were to believe, say, grandma's testimony that she gave in court, if you believe grandma's testimony that [defendant] was reaching for [L.C.] or that in any way he touched her, that would be a battery [sic], if there's any touching."2
After a couple hours of deliberation, the jury found defendant guilty only of assault. It acquitted him of committing a lewd act on a minor. The court released defendant on his own recognizance until sentencing. It later sentenced defendant to serve six months in the county jail, with 180 days' credit for time served.
Although the jury found defendant not guilty of any sexual offense, the court ordered defendant to register as a sex offender. (Former § 290, subd. (a)(2)(E); see § 290.006.) It noted, "We simply don't know what the jury — why the jury acquitted the defendant. It's certainly not obvious that they disbelieved the witnesses." It considered, but rejected as unreliable, a psychologist's report stating defendant is not a pedophile or sexually violent predator and "has not manifested any unusual sexual deviation. . . ."
The court found "the evidence established beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant sexually assaulted the victim." It noted L.C.'s "truthful and sincere" testimony that defendant "grabbed her, kissed her, fondled her breasts, buttocks and the area between her legs, dropped his pants and inserted his penis into her vagina." It noted L.C.'s grandmother testified to seeing defendant struggle with L.C., and her brothers testified to seeing defendant with his pants down around his ankles. It found defendant was "even more likely" driven by sexual compulsion because he assaulted L.C. in an open carport, and the assault was "not an isolated incident" because he kissed her once before. It concluded, beyond a reasonable doubt, "the assault in this case was committed as a result of sexual compulsion or for purposes of sexual gratification." In addition, it found registration appropriate because defendant was physically dangerous to the public, at serious risk to reoffend, and not being treated for his sexual compulsion. It stayed registration pending appeal.
At our invitation, the parties filed supplemental briefs on whether defendant was subject to Jessica's Law's residency restriction and, if so, whether it constitutes punishment implicating defendant's right to a jury trial.4 We affirmed defendant's conviction but reversed the registration requirement. (Mosley I) Should be: requirement. (Mosley I.) We analyzed whether the residency restriction constitutes punishment using the factors set forth in Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez (1963)
The California Supreme Court granted review of Mosley I and deferred action pending its decision in E.J. After deciding E.J., the court directed us to *Page 1100 vacate Mosley I and reconsider this matter in light of E.J. At our invitation, the parties filed supplemental briefs on the effect, if any, of E.J. on our disposition of this appeal.
Before addressing E.J., we resume our analysis of the residency restriction. We start with Apprendi and the right to a jury trial for any fact (other than a prior conviction) that increases an offense's penalty beyond the statutory maximum.
Apprendi, the Right to a Jury Trial, and Punishment
Starting in the late 1990's, the United States Supreme Court has scrutinized the interplay between the
In Apprendi, the court held, "Other than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt." (Apprendi, supra,
This jury trial entitlement applied equally to elements of a crime and any "enhancements" to the crime used to impose additional punishment. (Apprendi, supra,
The United States Supreme Court explored the concept of "the prescribed statutory maximum" punishment for a crime in later cases. In Blakely v.Washington (2004)
In United States v. Booker (2005)
And in Cunningham v. California (2007)
The United States Supreme Court has not definitively construed the word "penalty" as used in Apprendi and its progeny. Apprendi itself considered a sentence enhancement requiring a longer prison term for persons who committed their offenses while motivated by racial bias. Longer prison terms based upon court-found facts were also at issue in Blakely, Booker, and Cunningham. But these cases did not expressly limit the right to a jury trial only to facts supporting longer prison terms. Apprendi used the broader word "penalty" in its famous phrase. (Apprendi, supra,
But in ex post facto cases, the courts routinely determine what constitutes punishment using the "intent/effect test." When the California Supreme Court held sex offender registration (without the residency restriction) does not constitute punishment for ex post facto analysis, it relied upon two "important" determinants: (1) "whether the Legislature intended the provision to constitute punishment," and (2) "whether the provision is so punitive in nature or effect that it must be found to constitute punishment despite the Legislature's contrary intent." (People v. Castellanos (1999)
And courts generally determine punitive effect by analyzing the factors set forth in Mendoza-Martinez.6 The Castellanos court noted the prevalence of the "multifactor test articulated in" Mendoza-Martinez.(Castellanos, supra,
One of our sister courts applied the Mendoza-Martinez factors to hold the public notification requirement in California's sex offender registration laws (§ 290.46) did not constitute an increased penalty triggering the right to a jury trial. (People v. Presley (2007)
Thus, we will use the intent/effect test to decide whether the residency restriction constitutes an increased penalty beyond the statutory maximum under Apprendi. And we will apply the Mendoza-Martinez factors to determine whether the residency restriction has a punitive effect. To do this, we turn our attention to the sex offender registration scheme and the impact of Jessica's Law.
Sex Offender Registration and Jessica's Law Residency Restriction
California law has provided for sex offender registration for more than 60 years. (See Wright v. Superior Court (1997)
In 1994, however, the Legislature extended the scope of sex offender registration. Until then, former section 290 provided for "mandatory registration" of persons convicted of specified sexual offenses — those persons, and only those persons, had to register. (Hofsheier, supra,
In 1999, the California Supreme Court held in Castellanos that sex offender registration does not violate the federal and state constitutional bars against ex post facto laws because it does not constitute punishment. (Castellanos, supra,
As for the first factor — legislative intent — the Castellanos court held, "[t]he sex offender registration requirement serves an important and proper remedial purpose, and it does not appear that the Legislature intended the registration requirement to constitute punishment." (Castellanos, supra,
As for the second factor — punitive effect — the Castellanos court held, "Nor is the sex offender registration requirement so punitive in fact that it must be regarded as punishment, despite the Legislature's contrary intent. Although registration imposes a substantial burden on the convicted offender, this burden is no more onerous than necessary to achieve the purpose of the statute." (Castellanos, supra,
The effect of sex offender registration changed when the voters approved Jessica's Law in 2006. Section 1 provides its short title, "The Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act: Jessica's Law." (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 7, 2006) text of Prop. 83, § 1, p. 127.) Its official title on the ballot, prepared by the Attorney General, is "Sexual Offenders. Sexually Violent Predators. Punishment, Residence Restrictions and Monitoring. Initiative Statute." (Id., official title and summary of Prop. 83, p. 42.)
Jessica's Law made dozens of changes to the laws regarding sex offender registration and sexually violent predators (SVP's). As the Legislative Analyst noted in the ballot analysis, Jessica's Law "Increase[s] Penalties for Sex Offenses" by "broaden[ing] the definition of certain sex offenses," "provid[ing] for longer penalties for specified sex offenses," "prohibit[ing] probation in lieu of prison for some sex offenses," "eliminat[ing] early release credits for some inmates convicted of certain sex offenses," "extend[ing] parole for specified sex offenders," "generally mak[ing] more sex offenders eligible for an SVP commitment," and "chang[ing] the standard for release of SVPs from a state mental hospital." (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec., supra, analysis of Prop. 83 by the Legislative Analyst, pp. 43-44, boldface italics omitted.)
Jessica's Law imposed a new burden on registered sex offenders by amending section 3003.5 to add the residency restriction. (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec., supra, text of Prop. 83, § 21, p. 135.) The new subdivision provided, "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, it is unlawful for any person for whom registration is required pursuant to Section 290 to reside within 2000 feet of any public or private school, or park where children regularly gather." (Ibid., italics omitted; § 3003.5, subd. (b).) It also added a subdivision providing, "Nothing in this section shall prohibit municipal jurisdictions from enacting local ordinances that further restrict the residency of any person for whom registration is required pursuant to Section 290." (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec., supra, text of Prop. 83, § 21, p. 135, italics omitted; § 3003.5, subd. (c).) Jessica's Law imposed other increased restrictions, including requiring certain sex offenders to be monitored by global positioning system at their own expense for life. (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec., supra, text of Prop. 83, § 22, p. 135; § 3004, subds. (b), (c).)
Jessica's Law's Residency Restriction Constitutes a Penalty Due to ItsPunitive Effect
We now reach this case's basic issue: does the residency restriction imposed by Jessica's Law constitute punishment? If so, imposing the residency restriction would increase the penalty for offenses beyond the statutory *Page 1107 maximum when imposed at the court's discretion.11 And so Apprendi would require any facts supporting the court's exercise of discretion to be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
Punitive Intent. We start by assessing punitive intent, the first prong of the intent/effect test. The most obvious starting point is Proposition 83's intent clause. (See Smith, supra,
Nonetheless, other factors indicate the voters intended the residency restriction to be punitive. Proposition 83 provided for codification of the residency restriction in the Penal Code, and renders residing near schools or parks "unlawful" for registered sex offenders. (See Smith,supra,
This issue is close, pitting the express statement of regulatory intent against several provisions implying a punitive intent. We will defer to the express statement, concluding by a narrow margin that the residency restriction lacks a punitive intent.12
Punitive Effect. We turn to assessing punitive effect, the second prong of the intent/effect test. As the Smith court did, we will focus on the five most salient Mendoza-Martinez factors. (Smith, supra,
The residency restriction also subjects registered sex offenders to the constant threat of ouster if a school or park opens nearby. (Mann v.Georgia Dept. of Corrections (2007)
History and Tradition as Punishment. The residency restriction is a novel measure. But it is akin to banishment, a traditional form of punishment. (Smith, supra,
And in light of the large number of schools and parks in our communities and the size of the 2,000-foot exclusion zone, the residency restriction may well have the effect of banishing registered sex offenders from California's densely populated cities. One commentator reports that Jessica's Law "effectively banned registered sex offenders from residing in half of the Sacramento urban area, nearly seventy percent of the San Francisco Bay area, and about seventy-five percent of the Los Angeles metro area." (Barvir, When Hysteria and Good Intentions Collide: Constitutional Considerations of California's Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act (2008) 29 Whittier L. Rev. 679, 687; see Doev. Miller (8th Cir. 2005)
The residency restriction is also akin to the traditional punishments of property deprivation and probation or parole. (Nixon v. Administratorof General Services (1977)
Rational Connection to Nonpunitive Purpose. The residency restriction is rationally connected to the nonpunitive purpose of protecting children in and around schools and parks. This factor weighs against punitive effect. (But see Baker, supra,
Excessiveness with Respect to Nonpunitive Purpose. The residency restriction is excessively broad with regard to the protection of children by schools and parks. It affects all registered sex offenders equally, even those whose offenses did not involve children. Its 2,000-foot geographic scope creates expansive exclusion zones around the tens of thousands of schools and parks in California. It is poised to exclude registered sex offenders from neighborhoods, cities, or even entire metropolitan areas, crowding offenders into the same limited number of school-less, park-less areas. But it does not bar registered sex offenders from living near children — just schools and parks. Thus, whatever the danger posed by registered sex offenders, the residency restriction shifts that danger from children living in desirable neighborhoods near schools and parks to children who live in less privileged areas. (See Mikaloff, supra, 2007 WL2572268 at p. *11.) The residency restriction also allows registered sex offenders to loiter around schools and parks during the day while children are out, as long as they go somewhere else at night, when the children have gone home. (Ibid.)
Barring all registered sex offenders from living near any schools and parks — without considering whether their offenses involved children, whether *Page 1111
the exclusion zone provides adequate alternate housing for them, or whether their exclusion from living near schools and parks provides substantial protection to our children — is excessive to the nonpunitive purpose of child protection. (See Baker, supra,
The Attorney General relies on unpersuasive cases, which held the punitive effect of other states' residency restrictions did not outweigh their nonpunitive intent, and so did not violate the ban on ex post facto laws. (Miller, supra,
We disagree with these cases. In considering the first factor, traditional punishment, the cases miss the similarity between the residency restriction and property deprivation, probation, and parole, limiting their analysis to banishment. (Miller, supra,
More basically, these cases refuse to weigh the variousMendoza-Martinez factors and, instead, wrongly collapse them into one: a rational relation to nonpunitive purpose. Miller, for example, rejects the "potentially retributive" effect of the residency restriction because it "is consistent with the legislature's regulatory objective of protecting the health and safety of children." (Miller, supra,
We once again conclude Jessica's Law's residency restriction has an overwhelmingly punitive effect. It affirmatively restrains the right to choose a home and limits the right to live with one's family. It effectuates traditional banishment under a different name, interferes with the right to use and enjoy real property near schools and parks, and subjects housing choices to government approval like parole or probation. It deters sex offenses and comes close to imposing retribution on offenders. While it has a nonpunitive purpose of protecting children, it is excessive with regard to that purpose. It would oust a person never convicted of any offense against a child from his family home near a school or park, forcing him to leave his family or consigning the family to potential transience. Relocation would be limited to the few outskirts of town lacking a school or park. Yet the residency restriction would allow a convicted child molester to stroll past the school and eat ice cream in the park — as long as he or she retreats at night to housing far from a school or park. And there, the child molester may live undisturbed next door to small children. Building exclusion zones around all schools and parks for all registered sex offenders is excessively punitive, which clearly outweighs the proclaimed lack of regulatory, nonpunitive intent. (See Smith, supra,
We are not the first jurists to recognize the overwhelming punitive effect of a residency restriction. The Supreme Courts of Kentucky and Indiana have held their state's residency restrictions constitute ex post facto laws because of their punitive effects. (See Baker, supra,
Because the residency restriction is punitive, its imposition by the court increased the penalty for defendant's misdemeanor offense beyond the statutory maximum based upon the jury verdict alone. (Apprendi,supra,
E.J. Does Not Alter This Conclusion
As directed, we consider the effect of E.J. on this analysis. E.J. has no effect because the high court was addressing whether the residency restriction *Page 1113 was being applied retroactively to registered sex offenders released on parole after the passage of Jessica's Law. The court did not consider the general issue of whether the residency restriction constitutes punishment. Nor did it consider the specific issue of whether the residency restriction increases the penalty for an offense (not triggering mandatory sex offender registration) beyond the statutory maximum.
In E.J., the court considered a habeas petition "filed by four registered sex offender parolees" (E.J., supra,
The E.J. petitioners "contend[ed] that enforcement of section 3003.5(b)'s residency restrictions as to them constitutes an impermissible retroactive application of the statute . . . because it attaches new legal consequences to their convictions of registrable sex offenses suffered prior to the passage of Proposition 83. In a closely related argument, petitioners contend[ed] that such retroactive enforcement of section 3003.5(b) further violates the ex post facto clauses of the United States and California Constitutions insofar as it "`makes more burdensome the punishment for a crime, after its commission."'" (E.J., supra,
The Supreme Court rejected the retroactivity claim, holding "the new residency restrictions here in issue are being prospectively applied to petitioners," each of whom "was released from custody on his current parole and took up residency in noncompliant housing after
section 3003.5(b)'s effective date." (E.J., supra,
The Supreme Court also rejected the E.J. petitioners' ex post facto claim. It noted, "`A retrospective law violates the ex post facto clauses when it "substantially alters the consequences attached to a crime already completed, and therefore changes `the quantum of punishment.'"`" (E.J., supra,
E.J. does not compel denial of a jury trial for discretionary sex offender registration.13 The primary issue there was whether Jessica's Law was being applied retroactively to the petitioners, not whether the residency restriction constituted punishment. Even in E.J.'s ex post facto discussion, the critical question was one of timing: When
did the residency restriction start affecting the petitioners? The court held Jessica's Law was not ex post facto as applied to the petitioners because it was being applied as a condition for their future release on parole — they were still in custody when Jessica's Law was passed. (E.J.,supra,
The narrowness of E.J.'s holding is further shown by the issues it did not reach. The court did not hold the residency restrictions applied prospectively if imposed on all persons who had committed registrable offenses or had registered as sex offenders before Jessica's Law was passed. It did not hold the residency restriction could never constitute an ex post facto law. The court expressly declined to reach whether the residency restriction could be enforced as a misdemeanor, or in any way other than as a parole condition. (E.J., supra,
Justice Werdegar aptly "emphasize[d] the narrowness of . . . the issue before the court" in her concurrence. (E.J., supra,
The California Supreme Court later touched on E.J.'s effect on theApprendi issue in People v. Picklesimer (2010)
In reaching that conclusion, the Picklesimer court rejected the defendant's Apprendi claim. He had contended "that the sex offender residency restrictions . . . are punishment, and thus that the facts required to impose those restrictions — the facts supporting continued sex offender status — must now be found beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury pursuant to Apprendi . . . and its progeny. . . ." (Picklesimer,supra,
The narrowness of E.J. explains the unresolved hypothetical inPicklesimer. What did the court mean when it said: "if the residency restriction is punishment for the original offense . . ."but see" E.J.? The Picklesimer court could not have meant E.J. foreclosed the conclusion that the residency restriction is punishment for the original offense. IfE.J. reached so broadly, then the Picklesimer court would not have had to indulge an "if this/if that" hypothetical supported backhandedly with a "but see" citation to E.J. Instead, *Page 1117
the court could have made the straightforward statement: "The residency restriction does not punish the original offense. See E.J." Picklesimer
did not state that because it could not state that — E.J. held no such thing. E.J. held only that the residency restriction does not punish the original offense when imposed after sentencing, as a condition of a future parole. This holding may be "somewhat contrary to, or inconsistent with," the hypothetical proposition that the residency restriction isnecessarily punishment for the original offense — justifying the "but see" signal. (Cal. Style Manual (4th ed. 2000) §
Thus, in E.J. and Picklesimer, the California Supreme Court teaches that whether the residency restriction punishes the original offense depends on how and when it is imposed. In E.J., it held the residency restriction is not punishment for the original offense when imposed as a condition of a future parole. In Picklesimer, it recognized the limited reach of E.J. by phrasing its citation to E.J. to leave unaddressed those situations in which imposing the residency restriction would punish the original offense.
Here, the imposition of the residency restriction punished defendant for his original offense. The court required defendant to register as a sex offender as part of his sentence on the misdemeanor conviction. Sex offender registration itself may be regulatory, but the residency restriction is distinctly punitive. As such, imposition of the residency restriction upon defendant as part of his misdemeanor sentence constituted additional punishment for that offense. And because the court imposed discretionary sex offender registration, not registration mandated by statute, imposition of the residency restriction upon defendant increased the penalty for his misdemeanor offense beyond the statutory maximum. Apprendi thus entitled defendant to a jury finding, made beyond a reasonable doubt, of any fact supporting discretionary sex offender registration and the resulting residency restriction. No such jury findings were made here.
The Attorney General invokes E.J. in an attempt to preserve the imposition of the residency restriction upon defendant, but the effort falls short. The Attorney General contends E.J. stands for the broad proposition that the imposition of the residency restriction is never punishment until it is enforced. But E.J. stands only for a more limited proposition concerning imposition of the residency restriction as a parole condition, as already shown. Moreover, the residency restriction plainly provides "it is unlawful" for any registered sex offender to reside within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children gather. (§ 3003.5, subd. (b).) The burden of complying with the residency restriction — and thus the punitive effect of it — arises upon registration, not at enforcement. *Page 1118
The Attorney General also invokes Picklesimer in an attempt to preserve imposition of discretionary sex offender registration upon defendant by severing the residency restriction from the registration requirement. The Attorney General notes Picklesimer stated that even if applying the residency restriction to the defendant would be ex post facto, "there is no constitutional bar to having a judge exercise his or her discretion to determine whether Picklesimer should continue to be subject to registration." (Picklesimer, supra,
But Picklesimer did not sever one consequence of registration from other consequences. Picklesimer is a case about remedies and forums. Its holding is that Picklesimer must seek relief from sex offender registration by petitioning for a writ of mandate from the trial court. (Picklesimer, supra,
All that the Picklesimer court needed to decide, and did decide, was that the trial court was entitled to make the first decision whether to impose discretionary sex offender registration — and in doing so, whether the residency restriction is punitive. If the trial court found the residency restriction constituted punishment, it presumably would exercise its sound discretion not to require Picklesimer to register, because imposing the residency restriction upon him would violate the ex post facto clauses. But if the trial court found the residency restriction was not punitive, there would be no Apprendi problem with imposing discretionary sex offender registration upon Picklesimer.16 Thus, thePicklesimer court did not purport to prejudge whether the residency restriction constitutes punishment. It simply left the matter open for the trial court's consideration on a potential future petition *Page 1119 for a writ of mandate. It did not hold, or even suggest, the Legislature's sex offender registration scheme could be severed.
Thus, in Picklesimer's case, whether or not the residency restriction is punitive would be no barrier to requiring him to seek his remedy by writ of mandate in the trial court. In our case, Picklesimer does not bar the holding that the residency restriction is punitive — and that discretionary sex offender registration entailing the residency restriction cannot be imposed upon defendant on the basis of facts not found beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury.
O'Leary, Acting P. J., and Moore, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The People, and v. Steven Lloyd Mosley, And
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published