The State of Washington, Respondent v. Jeffrey S. Ward, Appellant; John Doe Parolee, Appellant, v. the State of…

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court, en banc, held that the sex offender registration statute, RCW 9A.44.130-.140, as retroactively applied to two offenders whose convictions predated its 1990 enactment, does not violate ex post facto prohibitions because registration is a regulatory, nonpunitive measure that does not alter the standard of punishment. The court also held that the duty to register is a collateral, not a direct, consequence of a guilty plea, so due process did not require advising the 1980 guilty pleader of it, and that the statute's registration-deadline classifications satisfy rational basis equal protection review. In construing the companion disclosure statute, the court held that a public agency must have some evidence of an offender's future dangerousness before releasing registration information to the public. Both trial court judgments were affirmed.