Commonwealth v. Ritz , 2016 Pa. Super. 296 ( 2016 )

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2016 PA Super 296COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
PENNSYLVANIA
Appellant
v.
JONATHAN RITZ,
Appellee No. 862 EDA 2016
Appeal from the Order February 16, 2016
In the Court of Common Pleas of Monroe County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-45-CR-0000171-2005
BEFORE: OTT, J., SOLANO, J. AND JENKINS, J.
OPINION BY JENKINS, J.: FILED DECEMBER 21, 2016
The Commonwealth appeals from an order granting Jonathan Ritz’s
motion to enforce the condition in his guilty plea agreement requiring him to
register as a sex offender for ten years. The Commonwealth contends that
the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”),1 which the
legislature enacted six years after Ritz’s guilty plea agreement, requires Ritz
to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Based on our Supreme Court’s recent decision in Commonwealth v.
Martinez, 147 A.3d 517 (Pa.2016), and authorities cited therein, we agree
with the trial court that under contract principles, Ritz’s agreement is binding
and enforceable, and he is only required to register for ten years. We also
address an issue that the majority in Martinez declined to examine: even if
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1
42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9799.10 – 9799.41.
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Ritz has a binding agreement with the Commonwealth, do the Contract
Clauses of the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions entitle the
legislature to modify the terms of Ritz’s plea agreement through SORNA?
Guided by Chief Justice Saylor’s concurring opinion in Martinez, we hold
that SORNA runs afoul of Ritz’s fundamental due process right to enforce the
terms of his plea agreement. Because SORNA violates due process, it also
fails to satisfy the United States and Pennsylvania Contract Clauses.
Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s order.
On March 14, 2005, Ritz was charged with two counts of indecent
assault of a person less than 13 years of age, endangering the welfare of
children, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor. 2 Under
Megan’s Law, 18 Pa.C.S. 9795.1 (repealed), the sexual offender registration
law then in effect, each offense carried a ten year registration period for first
time offenders such as Ritz. No offense carried a lifetime registration period.
On June 15, 2005, Ritz entered into a negotiated plea in which he
agreed to plead guilty to one count of indecent assault in return for the
Commonwealth’s agreement to nolle prosse the remaining charges. There
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2
18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3126(a)(7), 4304(a), 6301(a)(1), and 6318(a)(1),
respectively. The bills of information alleged that on or about June 1, 2004,
Ritz had a minor child put lotion on his penis and watch him masturbate.
Later on the same date, Ritz had the minor child straddle his legs as he
rubbed his penis against her.
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was no mention during the guilty plea hearing about the length of time that
Ritz had to register as a sex offender.
On September 15, 2005, the trial court sentenced Ritz to three years’
probation. During Ritz’s sentencing hearing, the assistant district attorney
asserted that Ritz’s guilty plea to indecent assault carried a mandatory
registration period of ten years: “Your Honor, this does require as part of a
plea agreement 10 year Megan’s Law registration and the notification that
needs to be read into the record.” N.T., 9/15/05, at 2 (emphasis added).
The court stated in its sentencing order: “[Ritz] is … subject to the ten []
year [registration] requirement[] under Megan’s Law pursuant to 18 Pa.C.S.
[§] 9795.1.”
In September 2008, Ritz completed his three-year term of probation
with no violations.
The legislature enacted SORNA on December 20, 2011, and SORNA
became effective on December 20, 2012. SORNA “added crimes to the list
defined as sexually violent offenses, and established a three-tiered system
for classifying such offenses and their corresponding registration periods.”
Commonwealth v. Farabaugh, 128 A.3d 1191, 1192 (Pa.2015). Tier I
offenses require registration for 15 years; Tier II offenses mandate 25 years
of registration; and Tier III offenses obligate an offender to register for his
or her lifetime. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.15(a)(1), (2), and (3), respectively.
Indecent assault is a Tier III offense. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.14(d)(8).
Individuals who registered as sex offenders prior to SORNA’s effective date,
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but who had not completed their registration periods by that date, were
required to register under SORNA “as provided in section 9799.15.” 42
Pa.C.S. § 9799.13(3)(i).
As of SORNA’s effective date, Ritz had not completed his ten-year
registration period under Megan’s Law. Consequently, if SORNA were to
apply, it would obligate Ritz to register “as provided in section 9799.15,”
i.e., as a sex offender for life, instead of for the ten years that the parties
agreed upon at sentencing, as explained below.
On December 3, 2015, the Pennsylvania State Police notified Ritz that
he was required to register as a sex offender for life. Ritz promptly filed a
Petition To Enforce Plea Agreement To Avoid Additional Sex Offender
Registration contending that his guilty plea agreement limited his
registration period to ten years.
On February 16, 2016, the trial court ordered that Ritz was “subject to
the 10 year Megan’s Law registration in effect at the time of his plea” and
“not subject to the new registration requirements under the SORNA statute.”
The Commonwealth filed a timely appeal, and both the Commonwealth and
the trial court complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.
The Commonwealth raises five issues in this appeal, which we have re-
ordered for the sake of disposition:
1. Did the trial court err in finding that [Ritz] presented
sufficient evidence that he specifically bargained for only a 10
year registration period, when there was absolutely no mention
of it in any guilty plea colloquy, nor at the time of the plea
hearing?
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2. Did the trial court err in finding that simply informing a
defendant of his statutory duty to register under Megan’s Law,
when such notification was required by statute, transformed that
notice into a specifically bargained for term of a plea agreement?
3. Did the trial court err in finding that the specific length of the
registration, which is a collateral consequence, was within the
control of the District Attorney to negotiate away?
4. Did the trial court err in modifying the length of registration
when it is specifically prohibited [from doing so] by 42 Pa.C.S. §
9799.20?
5. Did the trial court err in finding that the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania cannot modify the term of an existing contract as a
legitimate exercise of the police power of this state?
Brief of Commonwealth, at 4.
We address the Commonwealth’s first four arguments together,
because they boil down to the same issue: whether the order limiting Ritz’s
registration period to ten years violates the plain language of SORNA. This
is a question of law for which our standard of review is de novo and our
scope of review is plenary. Commonwealth v. Crawley, 924 A.2d 612,
614 (Pa.2007). Based on the majority opinion in Martinez, we conclude that
the order is valid and enforceable.
In Martinez, the trial court granted the petitions of three individuals 3
to limit their registration periods as sex offenders to the time periods in
effect under Megan’s Law at the time of their guilty plea agreements. One
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3
Our Supreme Court later consolidated the Commonwealth’s appeals
relating to these individuals under the caption “Commonwealth v.
Martinez”.
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petitioner, Wayne Shower, had been charged with indecent assault under 18
Pa.C.S. § 3126(a)(7), the same offense charged against Ritz in the present
case, and aggravated indecent assault. Shower pled guilty to indecent
assault in exchange for the Commonwealth’s promise to withdraw the
aggravated indecent assault charge and to recommend a sentence of 11½ -
23 months’ imprisonment.
The trial court accepted the plea agreement and imposed sentence on
June 12, 2006, a date when Megan’s law was in effect. Under Megan’s Law,
Shower’s conviction for indecent assault required him to register as a sexual
offender for ten years. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9795.1(a)(1) (expired). The
aggravated indecent assault charge withdrawn by the Commonwealth would
have subjected Shower to lifetime registration under Megan’s Law. 42
Pa.C.S. § 9795.1(b)(2) (expired).
During the plea agreement hearing, the only mention of Shower’s
registration requirement was a comment by defense counsel: “Section
9795.1 [of Megan’s Law] does seem to indicate that a 10-year registration
would be required relating to indecent assault where the offense is a
misdemeanor of the first degree.” N.T., 3/6/06, at 5.4 There was no
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4
We have located the transcript from Shower’s guilty plea hearing in the
Commonwealth’s reproduced record in Martinez, and we attach the
transcript as an appendix to this opinion. The Martinez majority does not
recite from the guilty plea transcript, but it does discuss the guilty plea
proceedings in some detail. Therefore, we think it safe to assume that the
guilty plea transcript was in the certified record in that appeal.
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mention that Shower’s motive for pleading guilty to indecent assault was to
avoid a lifetime registration term required for an aggravated indecent
assault conviction.
Seven years passed. In 2013, shortly after SORNA went into effect,
Shower filed a petition to enforce his plea agreement, arguing that his plea
agreement rested upon an “understanding and agreement” with the
Commonwealth that he only had to register as a sexual offender for ten
years under Megan’s Law. The court held a hearing during which Shower
testified that he entered the plea agreement with the “underst[anding]” that
part of the agreement required him to register as a sexual offender for only
ten years. Shower further testified that the main reason that he entered
into the agreement with the Commonwealth was to avoid the lifetime
registration requirement Megan’s Law attached to an aggravated indecent
assault conviction, i.e., the charge that the Commonwealth withdrew as part
of the plea agreement. Martinez, 147 A.3d at 523-24. But while Shower
chose to explain his motives seven years after his guilty plea, nobody said
during the guilty plea hearing itself that Shower’s motive for pleading guilty
to indecent assault was to avoid a lifetime registration term.
The trial court granted Shower’s petition. It explained that general
principles of contract law entitled Shower to enforce his bargain with the
Commonwealth restricting his registration period to ten years. The
Commonwealth appealed to this Court, which affirmed on the basis of
Commonwealth v. Hainesworth, 82 A.3d 444 (Pa.Super.2013) (en
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banc).5 The Commonwealth filed a petition for allowance of appeal, and the
Supreme Court granted allocatur.
In the Supreme Court, the petitioners, including Shower, argued that
Hainesworth was correctly decided, while the Commonwealth insisted that
the plea agreements were subject to modification through SORNA. On
September 28, 2016, the Supreme Court affirmed. Citing Hainesworth
with approval, the majority opinion in Martinez held that basic contract
principles entitled Shower to enforce the Commonwealth’s agreement in his
guilty plea to limit his registration period to ten years:
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5
The defendant in Hainesworth was charged with statutory sexual assault,
aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and criminal use of a
communication facility. The defendant entered a negotiated plea of guilty to
statutory sexual assault, indecent assault, and criminal use of a
communication facility. The Commonwealth agreed to withdraw the
aggravated indecent assault charge, which carried a lifetime registration
requirement under Megan’s Law. The Commonwealth stated during the
defendant’s guilty plea hearing that the offenses to which the defendant pled
guilty were “not Megan’s Law.” Nobody expressly stated during the guilty
plea hearing that the parties structured the plea agreement in order for the
defendant to avoid lifetime registration under Megan’s Law.
One week before SORNA’s effective date, the defendant filed a petition
seeking termination of his supervision in contemplation of the registration
requirement that would be imposed if he remained on probation on SORNA’s
effective date. The trial court denied the petition to terminate Hainesworth’s
supervision but entered an order stating that Hainesworth was not subject to
the registration requirements of SORNA. This Court affirmed, stating: “It is
unambiguous from the record that both parties to this appeal, and the trial
court, understood that a registration requirement was not included as a term
of Hainesworth’s plea agreement.” Id., 82 A.3d at 448.
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[T]he Hainesworth court accurately described the critical role
that plea agreements play in the criminal justice system. In fact,
courts have long recognized that plea negotiations and
agreements are essential components of the criminal justice
system. See, e.g., Santobello [v. New York], 404 U.S. [257],
260 [(1971)] (explaining that ‘[t]he disposition of criminal
charges by agreement between the prosecutor and the accused,
sometimes loosely called “plea bargaining,” is an essential
component of the administration of justice’). In this
Commonwealth, we look upon the practice of plea bargaining
with favor. Commonwealth v. Zuber, 353 A.2d 441, [443
(Pa.1976)].
We acknowledge that the analogy of a plea agreement as a
contract is not a perfect one. For instance, unlike a typical
contract, a plea agreement does not become binding on the
parties upon their consent to terms; rather, a plea agreement is
not valid and binding until it is evaluated and accepted by a third
party, i.e., a trial court. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 590(A)(3) (stating
that a judge may refuse to accept a plea of guilty or nolo
contendere and that the judge shall not accept the plea unless
the judge determines after inquiry of the defendant that the plea
is voluntarily and understandingly tendered).
Nonetheless, as the Hainesworth court recognized, plea
agreements clearly are contractual in nature. See Puckett v.
United States, 556 U.S. 129, 137 (2009) (stating that,
‘[a]lthough the analogy may not hold in all respects, plea
bargains are essentially contracts’)….
[T]he Santobello Court instructed that, ‘when a plea rests in
any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the
prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or
consideration, such promise must be fulfilled.’ Santobello, 404
U.S. at 262. Consistent with Santobello, this Court has held
that, when a trial court has accepted a plea agreement entered
into by the Commonwealth and a defendant, the prosecutor is
duty bound to fulfill the promises made in exchange for the
defendant’s guilty plea. See Zuber, 353 A.2d at 444 (holding
that the prosecutor has an affirmative duty to honor all promises
made in exchange for a defendant’s plea) (citing, inter alia,
Santobello) … ‘Our courts have demanded strict compliance
with that duty in order to avoid any possible perversion of the
plea bargaining system, evidencing the concern that a defendant
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might be coerced into a bargain or fraudulently induced to give
up the very valued constitutional guarantees attendant the right
to trial by jury.’ Zuber, 353 A.2d at 444. Consequently, in this
Commonwealth, when trial courts accept plea agreements, the
convicted criminals, like [Shower] in this case, are entitled to the
benefit of their bargains. Id.
Id., 147 A.3d at 531-32.
The majority concluded:
When a question arises as to whether a convicted criminal is
entitled to specific performance of a term of his plea agreement,
the focus is not on the nature of the term, e.g., whether the
term addressed is a collateral consequence of the defendant's
conviction. Rather, quite simply, the convicted criminal is
entitled to the benefit of his bargain through specific
performance of the terms of the plea agreement. Santobello,
404 U.S. at 262 ... Thus, a court must determine whether an
alleged term is part of the parties' plea agreement. If the answer
to that inquiry is affirmative, then the convicted criminal is
entitled to specific performance of the term ...
Regarding Shower’s case, in concluding that the record
demonstrated the nature of the parties’ plea agreement, the
Superior Court accurately recounted the discussion that took
place at Shower’s plea colloquy … That discussion included
Shower’s counsel stating that Shower would be subject to ten
years of registration under Megan’s Law … Thus, the Superior
Court held that the record demonstrated that Shower was
entitled to the benefit of his bargain - ten years of registering as
a sexual offender. The Commonwealth fails to convince us that
the court erred in this regard.
Id. at 532-33.6
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6
Chief Justice Saylor and Justice Wecht filed concurring opinions. We
discuss Chief Justice Saylor’s concurring opinion on pages 19-20, infra, in
the course of analyzing the Commonwealth’s Contract Clause argument.
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This case is the same in all material respects as Shower’s case in
Martinez and Hainesworth. Like Shower and Hainesworth, Ritz pled guilty
to an offense in exchange for the Commonwealth’s agreement to withdraw
one or more other charges. In each case, the parties agreed on the record
as to the length, if any, of the defendant’s sexual offender registration
period. In Hainesworth, the prosecutor said that the defendant’s
sentences are “not Megan’s law”; in Martinez, Shower’s attorney stated,
without objection by the Commonwealth, that Shower had a 10 year
registration period; and in the present case, the prosecutor expressly agreed
that a ten-year registration period was “part of [its] plea agreement” with
Ritz. In each case, the agreement was valid under the sexual offender law
then in effect, Megan’s Law. In particular, at the time of Ritz’s plea
agreement in 2005, the maximum allowable registration period for his
offense under Megan’s Law was ten years – the period of time he agreed to
accept. For these reasons, the trial court correctly held that Ritz and the
Commonwealth entered into a binding contract to make ten years the
applicable registration period. Martinez, 147 A.3d at 531 (“plea
agreements clearly are contractual in nature”). Ritz is entitled to enforce
this agreement to receive the benefit of his bargain. Id.
The proceedings in Martinez and Hainesworth are noteworthy for
one additional reason. In neither case did the defendant state on the record
his motives for entering the plea agreement. Specifically, neither defendant
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explained on the record that he entered his plea agreement to avoid lifetime
registration under Megan’s Law. Despite this omission, the Martinez and
Hainesworth courts held that each plea agreement was enforceable. The
lesson that we learn, therefore, is that the defendant need not explain his
motives for entering a guilty plea in order to enforce its terms. All that is
essential is that the terms themselves are clear and constitute valid
consideration for the agreement, as they did in Martinez and
Hainesworth. In the present case, Ritz did not explain on the record why
he decided to plead guilty, but under Martinez and Hainesworth, he did
not need to do so.
Finally, even though Ritz did not need to explain his motivations on the
record, a reasonable person in his position would have had precisely the
same motivation as Shower did in Martinez -- to avoid lifetime registration
as a sex offender. Ritz was charged with three offenses that required
registration under Megan's Law: two counts of indecent assault of a person
less than 13 years of age and one count of unlawful contact with a minor.
18 Pa.C.S. § 9795.1(a)(1). Had Ritz been convicted of more than one of
these offenses, he would have been subject to lifetime registration under
Megan's Law. 18 Pa.C.S. § 9795.1(b)(1) ("the following individuals shall be
subject to lifetime registration:... An individual with two or more convictions
of any of the offenses set forth in subsection (a)"). By pleading guilty to
only one of these offenses and obtaining the nolle prosse of the remaining
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charges under his plea agreement, Ritz limited his registration period to ten
years and eliminated any possibility of lifetime registration (as well as any
possibility of conviction and sentencing on the nolle prossed charges).
As in Martinez and Hainesworth, the terms that Ritz and the
Commonwealth affirmatively placed on the record provided ample
consideration to both parties and created a binding and enforceable
agreement between Ritz and the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth insists that its promise of a ten-year registration
period is not binding because it occurred during Ritz’s sentencing hearing
instead of his guilty plea hearing. We find this distinction irrelevant. At
sentencing, the Commonwealth agreed on the record to make the ten-year
registration “part of [Ritz’s] plea agreement.” The fact that the
Commonwealth agreed to this term at sentencing does not make this
agreement any less binding than if it occurred at Ritz’s guilty plea hearing.
To conclude otherwise would undermine confidence in the integrity of the
plea bargaining system, the very danger the majority opinion in Martinez
warns us to avoid. See id., 147 A.3d at 532 (“our courts have demanded
strict compliance with [the] duty [to honor all promises made in exchange
for a defendant’s plea] in order to avoid any possible perversion of the plea
bargaining system”).
The Commonwealth claims that it lacked the authority to “negotiate
away” the length of Ritz’s registration period at sentencing. This statement
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is inaccurate, if not disingenuous. A party cannot “negotiate away” a right it
never had in the first place. At the time of Ritz’s sentencing in 2005,
Megan’s Law limited the registration period for indecent assault to ten years.
SORNA’s amendment to lifetime registration did not become effective until
seven years after sentencing. Since the Commonwealth had no right to
demand lifetime registration at sentencing, it obviously did not “negotiate
away” lifetime registration. In truth, the Commonwealth obtained every
minute of the registration period which the law required at that time for
Ritz's crime of conviction.
Equally inaccurate is the Commonwealth’s assertion that the trial court
“modif[ied]” Ritz’s registration period in violation of SORNA. The court
“modified” nothing -- to the contrary, it denied the Commonwealth’s attempt
to modify Ritz’s 2005 plea bargain by changing Ritz’s registration period
from ten years to his entire lifetime. This was the correct decision under
Martinez. Id., 147 A.3d at 527 (quoting, inter alia, Hainesworth) (“when
a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the
prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or
consideration, such promise must be fulfilled”).
Under Martinez, a deal is a deal. The Commonwealth agreed on the
record at Ritz’s sentencing in 2005 that his registration period under Megan’s
Law was ten years. Although the Commonwealth might not like the deal it
made in 2005, it cannot abrogate it now. As another panel of this Court
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recently stated: “We refuse to allow Appellant’s plea bargain to be reformed
with the addition of new conditions which did not exist when he entered the
plea agreement. To do otherwise would play ‘gotcha’ with a revered and
favored method of resolving criminal cases.” Commonwealth v.
Farabaugh, 136 A.3d 995, 1003 (Pa.Super.2016).
Having resolved the contract-based issues raised by the
Commonwealth, we turn to a constitutional issue asserted in the
Commonwealth’s fifth and final argument. The Commonwealth contends
that even if Ritz’s plea agreement is enforceable under contract law
principles, the Contract Clauses of the United States and Pennsylvania
Constitution entitle the legislature to modify the plea agreement via
enactment of SORNA. SORNA, the Commonwealth claims, overrides the
plea agreement as a “valid exercise of [the Commonwealth’s] police powers”
under the Contract Clauses.
The majority in Martinez refrained from deciding whether the
Contract Clauses permit the legislature to pass legislation that modifies or
overrides the defendant’s plea agreement.7 Id., 147 A.3d at 524-25, 529-
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7
The majority elected to decide the case on common law contract principles
alone, because the trial court and Superior Court only applied contract law
principles in deciding the case, the parties provided adequate argument on
this non-constitutional subject, and the Commonwealth never raised the
constitutional Contract Clause issue in the trial court. Id. at 524-25, 529-
30.
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30. Accordingly, we now perform that task, and we conclude that the
Contract Clause argument lacks merit.
The United States Constitution states that “[n]o State shall ... pass
any ... Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts....” U.S. Const. art. I, § 10.
The Pennsylvania Constitution provides similar protection. Pa. Const. art. I,
§ 17 (“No ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obligation of
contracts, or making irrevocable any grant of special privileges or
immunities, shall be passed”).
In general, the United States and Pennsylvania Contract Clauses
prohibit the legislature from enacting laws that retroactively impair contract
rights. First Nat. Bank of Pennsylvania v. Flanagan, 528 A.2d 134, 137
(Pa.1987) (“[t]he [C]ontracts [C]lauses… protect contracts freely arrived at
by the parties to them from subsequent legislative impairment or
abridgment”). Although the United States Contract Clause speaks in
absolute terms, it is not “the Draconian provision that its words might seem
to imply.” Allied Structural Steel Co. v. Spannaus, 438 U.S. 234, 240
(1978). This provision “does not prevent the State from exercising such
powers as are vested in it for the promotion of the common weal, or are
necessary for the general good of the public,” even though contracts
previously entered into may be affected. Id. at 241. Stated another way,
this provision “does not trump the police power of a state to protect the
general welfare of its citizens.” Buffalo Teachers Fed’n v. Tobe, 464 F.3d
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362, 367 (2d Cir. 2006). The same principle applies to Pennsylvania’s
Contract Clause, because “the test for unconstitutional impairment of
contract is the same under both constitutions.” South Union Township v.
Commonwealth, 839 A.2d 1179, 1188 n. 14 (Pa.Cmwlth.2003) (citing
Parsonese v. Midland National Insurance Company, 706 A.2d 814(Pa.1998)).
To determine whether legislation satisfies the United States and
Pennsylvania Contract Clauses, we apply a three-part test articulated in
Energy Reserves Group, Inc. v. Kansas Power and Light, 459 U.S. 400(1983):
The threshold inquiry is to determine whether the state statute
in reality has operated to substantially impair a contractual
relationship. [Energy Reserves Group, 459 U.S.] at 411 [].
Should it be determined that a substantial impairment has
occurred, the state must set forth a legitimate and significant
public purpose. Id. at 412-13 []. Once that purpose is
identified, the final inquiry concerns whether the adjustment of
contractual rights is reasonable and of a nature appropriate to
the public purpose justifying the legislation’s adoption; however,
if the state is not a contracting party, deference is given to the
state’s enunciated purpose. Id.Foster v. Mutual Fire, Marine and Inland Ins. Co., 614 A.2d 1086, 1094
n. 4 (Pa.1992) (citing Energy Reserves Group).
In this case, the Commonwealth concedes, and we agree, that SORNA
substantially impairs Ritz’s rights under the plea agreement by extending his
period of registration from ten years to his entire life. Brief For
Commonwealth, at 30.
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With regard to the second prong, the Commonwealth asserts, and we
agree, that the legislature enacted SORNA for a legitimate and significant
public purpose, namely “to further protect the safety and general welfare of
the citizens of this Commonwealth by providing for increased regulation of
sexual offenders, specifically as that regulation relates to registration of
sexual offenders…” 42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.11(b)(1) (declaration of General
Assembly’s policy).
We turn to the third prong of the Energy Reserves Group test, which
inquires whether the impairment is both necessary and reasonable to meet
the purpose advanced by the legislature. U.S. Trust Co. v. New Jersey,
431 U.S. 1, 22, (1977) (“legislation adjusting the rights and responsibilities
of contracting parties must be upon reasonable conditions and of a character
appropriate to the public purpose justifying its adoption”); United Steel
Paper and Forestry Rubber Manufacturing Allied Industrial and
Service Workers International Union AFL–CIO–CLC v. Government of
Virgin Islands, -- F.3d --, 2016 WL 6695785, *10 (3d Cir., 11/15/16)
(“any impairment must be both necessary and reasonable … [to] survive
Contract Clause scrutiny”) (emphasis in original). Significantly, when the
State itself is a contracting party, “complete deference to a legislative
assessment of reasonableness and necessity is not appropriate because the
State’s self-interest is at stake.” U.S. Trust Co., 431 U.S. at 26. If we
afforded complete deference to the State in such a case, the Contract Clause
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probably “would provide no protection at all.” Id. For this reason, when a
State is a contracting party, its “legislative judgment is subject to stricter
scrutiny than when the legislation affects only private contracts.” Nieves v.
Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp., 819 F.2d 1237, 1249 (3d Cir. 1987).
When a statute is unreasonable, the court need not address whether
the statute is unnecessary. United Steel Paper, 2016 WL at 6695785, *8
(“we need not decide today whether [the Virgin Islands Economic Stability
Act] was necessary because … we conclude it was unreasonable, which is
alone sufficient to render it improper under the Contract Clause”).
Chief Justice Saylor’s concurring opinion in Martinez correctly reasons
that SORNA violates the due process rights of individuals who registered for
shorter time periods under Megan’s Law. Because SORNA runs afoul of due
process, SORNA obviously is unreasonable.
Chief Justice Saylor began by observing:
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
and Article 1, Section 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which
have been interpreted as generally coextensive, guarantee the
protections of due process. Commonwealth v. Sims, 919 A.2d
931, 941 n.6 (Pa.2007). The Court has previously related that
‘[t]he due process inquiry, in its most general form, entails an
assessment as to whether the challenged proceeding or conduct
offends some principle of justice so rooted in the traditions and
conscience of our people as to be ranked as fundamental and
that defines the community’s sense of fair play and decency.’
Commonwealth v. Kratsas, 764 A.2d 20, 27 (Pa.2001).
Martinez, 147 A.3d at 534. SORNA, the Chief Justice continued, violates
due process by permitting the Commonwealth to circumvent solemn and
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binding promises it made in plea agreements to limit sex offenders’
registration periods under Megan’s Law:
Plea bargaining’s role in our justice system, combined with the
defendant’s exchanged waiver of constitutional rights, mandates
consideration of fundamental fairness and attendant due process
protections. See State v. Blackwell, 522 S.E.2d 313, 315 (N.C.
Ct. App. 1999) remanded on other grounds, 538 S.E.2d 929(N.C. 2000) (per curiam) (‘By pleading guilty, a defendant
waives many constitutional rights, not the least of which is his
right to a jury trial. No other right of the individual has been so
zealously guarded over the years and so deeply embedded in our
system of jurisprudence .... As such, due process mandates
strict adherence to any plea agreement’).
It seems evident from this Court’s and other jurisdictions’
precedents that the enforcement of plea bargains is rooted in
fundamental fairness. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Sluss, 419
S.E.2d 263, 265 (Va. Ct. App. 1992) (‘[T]o allow the government
to receive the benefit of its bargain without providing the
reciprocal benefit contracted for by the defendant would do more
than violate the private contractual rights of the parties—it
would offend all notions of fairness in the related criminal
proceedings, which are protected by constitutional due
process.’). Accordingly, since the parties stipulated in these
cases that the registration conditions were express terms of
appellees’ plea agreements, I believe appellees are entitled to
the benefit for which they bargained as a matter of due process.
Id. at 534-35. “The view that plea bargains must be enforced pursuant to
due process principles,” the Chief Justice added, “appears to garner support
among many state and federal jurisdictions.” Id. at 535 n. 1 (citing ten
federal and state decisions).
We agree with Chief Justice Saylor’s logic, and we hold that SORNA
violates Ritz’s federal and state due process rights by depriving him of the
benefit of his plea bargain with the Commonwealth. Because SORNA is
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invalid as a matter of due process, it also is unreasonable, and therefore
invalid, under the United States and Pennsylvania Contract Clauses. In
everyday terms, SORNA is unreasonable because it robs Peter to pay Paul --
it plunders Ritz’s due process rights in its effort to enhance public safety.
We have no doubt that the legislature had the best of intentions in enacting
SORNA, but its motives do not excuse its incursion on Ritz’s constitutional
rights.
Because we find SORNA unreasonable, we need not evaluate whether
it is necessary. United Steel Paper, 2016 WL at 6695785, *8. We reject
the Commonwealth’s argument that SORNA is a valid modification to Ritz’s
plea agreement under the United States and Pennsylvania Contract Clauses.
Order affirmed.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 12/21/2016
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