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2/21/01

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA 00-KH-0172 STATE EX REL. WILLIAM OLIVIERI versus STATE OF LOUISIANA On Writ of Certiorari to the Court of Appeal, Fifth Circuit, Parish of Jefferson consolidated with 00-KP-1767 STATE OF LOUISIANA versus MARVIN HUTCHINSON On Writ of Certiorari to the Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, Parish of St. Bernard KNOLL, Justice*

These two consolidated criminal cases raise the issue of whether the State may require sex offenders (either probationers or those released from incarceration on parole) to comply with notification provisions the Legislature enacted after they committed their offenses.1 We granted these writ applications because there is a

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James C. Gulotta, Justice Pro Tempore, sitting for Associate Justice Harry T. Lemmon..

Although Olivieri originally objected to the provision which requires registration with local police, he has withdrawn his objection before us. This requirement has almost unanimously been upheld against ex post facto challenges because courts have viewed this requirement as merely a regulation, not additional punishment. See, e.g., Doe v. Pataki, 940 F. Supp. 603 (S.D.N.Y. 1996), affirmed in part, reversed in part, 120 F.3d 1263 (2d Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1122 (1998); Russell v. Gregoire, 124 F.3d 1079 (2d Cir. 1997). Even though his objection has been withdrawn, as a matter of completeness we will refer to the registration provisions with local law enforcement in our prefatory discussion of Louisiana's Megan's Law. Hutchinson has not attacked this aspect of the law.

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conflict among our courts of appeal on this issue and this Court has never addressed the question of whether retroactive application of these statutes, commonly referred to as Louisiana's Megan's Law,2 violates the ex post facto clauses of the federal and state constitutions. We find no ex post facto violation. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On May 9, 1990, William Olivieri ("Olivieri") pleaded guilty in Jefferson Parish to forcible rape of a woman who was thirty-six years of age, a violation of LA. REV. STAT. ANN.

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