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Supreme Court of Louisiana
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE FROM: CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA The Opinions handed down on the 24th day of January, 2012, are as follows: NEWS RELEASE #005

BY GUIDRY, J.: 2010-C -1140 JIMMY L. SMITH v. STATE OF LOUISIANA (Parish of West Feliciana) (Sex Offender Registration) For the reasons set forth above, we find the 1999 amendment to former La. Rev. Stat. 15:542.1, providing for a lifetime obligation to register as a sex offender, applies to Mr. Smith as a multiple sexual offender. We further find no violation of the ex post facto clause in the application of the sex offender registration statutes to Mr. Smith. Thus, we reverse the ruling of the court of appeal, and reinstate the district court's judgment denying Mr. Smith's petition for injunctive and declaratory relief and ordering him to register as a lifetime sex offender. REVERSED; DISTRICT COURT JUDGEMENT REINSTATED.

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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA No. 2010-C-1140 JIMMY L. SMITH VERSUS STATE OF LOUISIANA ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT, PARISH OF WEST FELICIANA

GUIDRY, Justice This case presents questions of statutory interpretation regarding amendments to Louisiana's sex offender registration statutes, La. Rev. Stat. 15:540 et seq. We granted the State of Louisiana's writ application to determine whether the court of appeal erred in finding that the amendments did not apply to the offender in this case, because application of those amended statutes would violate the prohibition set forth in the ex post facto clause of the state and federal constitutions. The offender in this case was convicted of two sex offenses prior to the enactment of the amendments to the sex offender registration statutes but before his initial registration period had expired. The amendments at issue here increased the duration an offender is obligated to register and created a new requirement for sex offender designation codes on drivers' licenses and identification cards. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the ruling of the court of appeal, which found the 1999 amendment to former La. Rev. Stat. 15:542.1(H), providing for a lifetime requirement to register for multiple offenders, did not apply to persons convicted of a sex offense prior to July 1997, and that the restriction code to be placed on an offender's driver's license or identification card

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requirements added by the legislature in 2006 also did not apply to the offender in this case.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The relevant facts in this case are not in dispute. In 1995, Jimmy L. Smith was convicted of two sex offenses in separate jurisdictions. These offenses occurred on the same evening, when the then nineteen-year-old had sex with the victim, a female under the age of 17, in the back of a truck while a friend drove them from East Baton Rouge Parish to East Feliciana Parish. On June 16, 1995, Mr. Smith entered a plea of nolo contendere in the 20th Judicial District Court, parish of East Feliciana, to indecent behavior with a juvenile, a violation of La. Rev. Stat. 14:81. In accordance with a plea agreement, the trial court sentenced Mr. Smith to three years at hard labor. On July 25, 1995, Mr. Smith then entered a plea of guilty in the 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, to carnal knowledge of a juvenile, a violation of La. Rev. Stat. 14:80. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Mr. Smith was sentenced to three years at hard labor to be served concurrently with the East Feliciana Parish sentence. In addition, because both of Mr. Smith's offenses are defined as a "sex offense" under Louisiana law, La. Rev. Stat. 15:542(E), Mr. Smith was subject to the sex offender registry provisions, La. Rev. Stat. 15:540, et seq., which at the time of his convictions required him to register for a period of ten years after being released from prison.1 Mr. Smith was released from prison and placed on parole supervision on December 12, 1996, after serving approximately eighteen months of his sentence. Following his release from prison, Mr. Smith met with his parole officer, who
Chapter 3-B of Title 15, comprising La. Rev. Stat. 15:540 through 549, and providing for registration of sex offenders, see S.B. No. 1111, was added by Acts 1992, No. 388,

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