Opinion
No. 2010-CA-52.
DATE OF JUDGMENT ENTRY: September 20, 2010.
Criminal appeal from the Licking County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 2008-CV-00149.
Reversed and Remanded.
Alice Bond, Licking County Prosecutor, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Melissa J. Lindsay, Ohio Poverty Law Center, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Hon. W. Scott Gwin, P.J., Hon. William B. Hoffman, J., Hon. Sheila G. Farmer, J.
OPINION
{¶ 1} Defendant appellant Gerald Lee Rine, Jr. appeals a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Licking County, Ohio, which dismissed his petition contesting his reclassification under the Adam Walsh Act, R.C. 2905.01 et seq. Appellant assigns a single error to the trial court:
{¶ 2} "I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY DISMISSING APPELLANT'S PETITION TO CONTEST RECLASSIFICATION."
{¶ 3} Appellant was convicted of rape in 1987, Licking County Common Pleas Number 1987-CR-16515. In February 2002, appellant was classified under Megan's Law, R.C. 2950.09, as a sexually oriented offender. In July, 2007, the Ohio Legislature passed the Adam Walsh Act, and the Attorney General reclassified appellant as a Tier III sexual offender. The new classification imposed more obligations and restrictions on appellant than he had under his former classification.
{¶ 4} Appellant contested his reclassification in the common pleas court. The common pleas court, relying on this court's opinion in Sigler v. State, Richland. App. No 08 CA 79, 2009-Ohio-2010, and a string of cases following it, dismissed appellant's petition on April 12, 2010.
{¶ 5} On June 3, 2010, the Ohio Supreme Court announced its opinion in State v. Bodyke, Ohio St. 3d, 2010-Ohio-2424, N.E.2d . In Bodyke, the Supreme Court found the Adam Walsh Act unconstitutional and stated: "R.C. 2950.031 and 2950.032 may not be applied to offenders previously adjudicated by judges under Megan's Law, and the classifications and community-notification and registration orders imposed previously by judges are reinstated."
{¶ 6} The State agrees this case must be reversed. In light of Bodyke, we find the court should not have dismissed appellant's petition.
{¶ 7} The assignment of error is sustained.
{¶ 8} For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Licking County, Ohio is reversed and remanded with instructions to proceed according to law and consistent with this opinion.
Gwin, P.J., Hoffman, J., and Farmer, J., concur.
JUDGMENT ENTRY
For the reasons stated in our accompanying Memorandum-Opinion, the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Licking County, Ohio is reversed and remanded with instructions to proceed according to law and consistent with this opinion. Costs to appellee.