Julie Hautzenroeder v. Michael DeWine
Opinion
Due to her conviction for sexual battery, Julie Hautzenroeder must forever comply with Ohio's sex offender registration and notification laws. After her release from prison and community control, Hautzenroeder filed a habeas petition under
I. BACKGROUND
An Ohio jury found Hautzenroeder, a high school teacher, guilty of one count of sexual battery involving a student. Although her state court appeals were unsuccessful, Hautzenroeder benefitted from the trial court's suspending most of her two-year prison sentence and discharging her early from community control. But no court could suspend Hautzenroeder's statutorily-mandated classification as a Tier III sex offender with its associated lifetime reporting requirements. See Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2950.01(G)(1)(a), 2950.07(B)(1).
Hautzenroeder's federal habeas petition alleged a due process violation stemming from insufficient evidence supporting her conviction. Ohio moved to dismiss, arguing that the district court lacked jurisdiction over the petition because Hautzenroeder filed it after her period of incarceration *740 and community control expired-in other words, when she was no longer "in custody." Agreeing with a magistrate judge's report and recommendation, the district court dismissed her petition for want of jurisdiction. That court's later grant of a certificate of appealability as to "whether petitioner is in custody for purposes of habeas relief and whether the Court properly granted respondent's motion to dismiss" occasions this appeal.
II. ANALYSIS
"We apply de novo review to questions of subject matter jurisdiction."
Steverson v. Summers
,
Federal courts may "entertain an application for a writ of habeas corpus [o]n behalf of a person
in custody
pursuant to the judgment of a State court only on the ground that he is
in custody
in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States."
The Supreme Court holds that a petitioner is "in custody" when she is subject to conditions that "significantly restrain [her] liberty to do those things which in this country free men are entitled to do."
Jones v. Cunningham
,
Yet not all consequences that flow from a criminal conviction significantly curb one's liberty. "[O]nce the sentence imposed for a conviction has completely expired,
the collateral consequences
of that conviction are not themselves sufficient to render an individual 'in custody' for the purposes of a habeas attack upon it."
Maleng v. Cook
,
In
Leslie v. Randle
, we decided that a habeas petitioner's obligations under Ohio's sex offender registration law were "more analogous to collateral consequences such as the loss of the right to vote than to severe restraints on freedom of movement such as parole."
A. Obligation to Provide and Update Information
First, Hautzenroeder argues that the enhanced reporting requirements of the new law materially distinguish her case from
Leslie
. The State concedes that, as compared to its old registration law, Ohio's SORNA requires offenders to report more information to more officials.
See
Leslie
,
In reality, Hautzenroeder's obligations under Ohio's SORNA differ from those under Ohio's previous regime only in degree, not in kind. Her "ability to move to a different community or residence is ... not conditioned on approval by a government official."
Leslie
,
Her circumstances are also readily distinguishable from the facts of
Jones
and
Hensley
, where the Supreme Court found that the petitioners were "in custody" because the government exercised direct control over their movements. The
Jones
petitioner was a parolee; the terms of his parole confined him to "a particular community, house, and job."
Though registration obligations present a serious nuisance, as the First Circuit put it, "even grievous collateral consequences stemming directly from a conviction cannot, without more, transform the absence of custody into the presence of custody."
Lefkowitz v. Fair
,
B. Dissemination of Information to the Public
Ohio's SORNA requires the county sheriff to inform the offender's neighbors, area school officials, and the local municipal police chief, among others, of the offender's presence in the community.
See generally
Ohio Rev. Code § 2950.11(A) - (B). School officials may likewise inform
*742
their employees, who must report if they see the offender near the school.
See generally
Hautzenroeder contends that the dissemination of such information transforms her conviction into a scarlet letter, encroaching on her liberty interests. She claims that widespread knowledge of her status may hinder her efforts to obtain employment or participate in ordinary social activities, impair her parenting abilities, and subject her to vigilantism and harassment.
But Hautzenroeder fails to show how Ohio's current publicization scheme materially differs from the Ohio regime that the
Leslie
court found non-custodial. On this score, as the State observes, there are only two differences between Ohio's old law and the version we review today. First, today's law requires notifying a broader audience when a sex offender is in a community.
Compare
These differences are insufficient to render Hautzenroeder in custody. As the Supreme Court explained in Smith v. Doe :
Our system does not treat dissemination of truthful information in furtherance of a legitimate governmental objective as punishment.... It must be acknowledged that notice of a criminal conviction subjects the offender to public shame, the humiliation increasing in proportion to the extent of the publicity. And the geographic reach of the Internet is greater than anything which could have been designed in colonial times. These facts do not render Internet notification punitive. The purpose and the principal effect of notification are to inform the public for its own safety, not to humiliate the offender. Widespread public access is necessary for the efficacy of the scheme, and the attendant humiliation is but a collateral consequence of a valid regulation .
Hautzenroeder has presented nothing to show that Ohio's publicization rules are meant to humiliate offenders rather than protect the public. Neither the availability of this information on the internet nor the expanded community notification provisions place Hautzenroeder "in custody."
C. Bar on Establishing a Residence in Certain Areas
Ohio law also forbids sex offenders from "establish[ing] a residence or occupy[ing] residential premises within one thousand feet of any school premises or preschool or child day-care center premises." Ohio Rev. Code § 2950.034(A). Violations are not criminal; instead, the State grants neighbors and local officials standing
*743
to sue the offender for injunctive relief (i.e., to get a court order compelling the offender to vacate the residence).
Hautzenroeder portrays this as a particularly burdensome provision that "restrict[s] her habitation to certain segments of society." Not so. Many states impose similar restrictions, which may be more severe than Ohio's. In Oklahoma, for example, sex offenders may not live, either temporarily or permanently, within 2,000 feet of any "school ..., educational institution, property or campsite used by an organization whose primary purpose is working with children, a playground or park ..., or a licensed child care center."
Dickey
,
Hautzenroeder has not demonstrated that Ohio's residency restrictions amount to governmental control over her movements. Although she may not be able to make her home in some parts of some neighborhoods, there is no reason to believe that the vast majority of real estate is not open to her. Put another way, she has not shown that the law operates to confine her to "a particular community[ ] [or] house."
Jones
,
D. Fear of Consequences of Deviation
Should Hautzenroeder fail to register or provide certain information, she would be guilty of a third degree felony that carries potential prison time.
See
Ohio Rev. Code § 2950.99(A)(1). Hautzenroeder characterizes her possible criminal liability as a sword of Damocles causing her, like the
Jones
petitioner, to "live in constant fear that a single deviation, however slight, might be enough to result in [her] being returned to prison."
But if Hautzenroeder were to violate Ohio's SORNA requirements, any repercussions would stem not from her original conviction but from a new, separate criminal proceeding. On this point we can differentiate Hautzenroeder from a parolee who may face reimprisonment stemming from her original conviction. The Supreme Court has observed that this distinction is vital.
See
Maleng
,
In fact, criminal sanction for non-compliance with the registration regime is nothing new in Ohio: the State's former registration scheme likewise criminalized non-compliance.
See
State v. Cook
,
E. Ohio's SORNA's Punitive Nature
Hautzenroeder emphasizes the Ohio Supreme Court's holding that the State's
*744
SORNA, unlike its predecessor statute, is "punitive," barring its retroactive application.
State v. Williams
,
The State aptly observes, however, that the two issues pose different legal questions. Ex post facto analysis asks whether a law imposes a punishment.
See
Does #1-5
,
So, put simply, Hautzenroeder's appeal does not hinge on the punitive nature of this statute. We are concerned only with whether her statutorily mandated obligations are custodial. And as we have explained, they are not.
III. CONCLUSION
We thus AFFIRM the district court's dismissal of Hautzenroeder's habeas petition for want of jurisdiction.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Julie HAUTZENROEDER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Michael DEWINE, Ohio Attorney General, Respondent-Appellee.
- Cited By
- 43 cases
- Status
- Published