Summary
holding that registration requirement of Florida's Sexual Predator Act is procedural and regulatory in nature and does not constitute punishment in violation of ex post facto clause
Summary of this case from Freeland v. StateOpinion
No. 97-3415
June 19, 1998
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Lake County, Mark J. Hill, Judge.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Nancy Ryan, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Roberta J. Tylke, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.
Appellant was required to register under the Florida Sexual Predators Act, Sec. 775.21, F.S. (Supp. 1996), after an earlier second conviction for unlawful sexual acts. He contends that this requirement, as well as the additional requirements of the amendments to that statute in 1997 (sec. 775.21, F.S. (1997)) constitute ex post facto punishment as well as double jeopardy. This court has previously held that the registration requirement of sec. 775.21, F.S. (Supp. 1996) are procedural and regulatory in nature and do not constitute punishment. Fletcher v. State, 699 So.2d 346 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997), rev. denied, 707 So.2d 1124 (Fla. 1998). So, too, are the 1997 amendments which require law enforcement agencies to post the names and addresses of sexual predators on the internet, regulatory and procedural in nature. The requirement that registered sexual predators secure new driver's licenses or identification cards within 10 days of a change of address and to pay the cost thereof do not constitute an ex post facto imposition of costs, for the reason that all holders of driver's licenses are subject to the same regulatory requirements. Sec. 322.19(2), F.S. (1997).
AFFIRMED.
W. SHARP, PETERSON, JJ., and ORFINGER, M., Senior Judge, concur.