John Doe v. Robert E. Cooper, Jr., as Attorney General for State of Tennessee

This is a declaratory judgment action in which Petitioner challenges as unconstitutional the retroactive application of the Tennessee Sexual Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Act of 2004. Petitioner was convicted of five counts of indecent exposure in 2001when the Sexual Offender Registration and Monitoring Act of 1994 was in effect. The 1994 Act did not classify indecent exposure as a "sexual offense." Three years after his convictions, the Tennessee Sexual Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Act of 2004 became law. Unlike the prior Act, the Act of 2004 classified persons convicted of "at least 3 indecent exposure offenses" as "sexual offenders," it required all persons classified as "sexual offenders" to register with the sex offender registry, and it prohibited sexual offenders whose victims were minors from working or residing within 1,000 feet of a school, child care facility, or public park. The trial court made the determination the 2004 Act was part of a non-punitive regulatory framework that did not constitute punishment and the retroactive application of the 2004 Act to Petitioner was not unconstitutional. Petitioner established standing to challenge the classification, registration and employment restraint provisions of the Act of 2004 as applied to him, and we have determined that the 2004 Act, as applied to Petitioner, is not unconstitutional. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court.