The Missouri Supreme Court considered Tuesday how to apply laws making it illegal for sex offenders to be near parks and for felons to possess a gun when their initial offense occurred before the restrictions were created.
At issue before the high court in five separate cases was part of the Missouri Constitution prohibiting retrospective and ex post facto laws.
In each case, defendants faced prosecution after running afoul of a law that applied to them because of a previous criminal conviction. A judge dismissed a charge in four cases, while a fifth defendant was convicted and appealed. Full Article
I can’t believe this is even in court. Several years ago, the MO Supreme Court ruled a similar law, imposing residency restrictions and Halloween restrictions was only legal going forward. Anyone convicted before the law was enacted was not affected by those two laws. How the Missouri Attorney General thinks that this other law, banning visits to parks, is exempt from retroactive application is beyond me.
You can select among the oral arguments here (mp3 downloads):
http://www.courts.mo.gov/SUP/index.nsf/fe8feff4659e0b7b8625699f0079eddf/f8394fdfc718008086257ba9006839b4?OpenDocument
It sounds to me, by the way the justices were questioning the state’s attorney, that they are probably going to find this law unconstitutional too as applied retroactively just as they did the residency and Halloween laws a few years ago. I really hope this is the case!!!