Case Title: State v. Gingell

Citation: 2011-Ohio-1481

Docket Number: 

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2011-04-05T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
State v. Gingell, Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-1481.] 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in 
an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested 
to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 
65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or 
other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be 
made before the opinion is published. 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2011-OHIO-1481 
THE STATE OF OHIO, APPELLEE, v. GINGELL, APPELLANT. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State v. Gingell, Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-1481.] 
Criminal law — Reclassification of sexual offenders — R.C. 2950.031 and 
2950.032 unconstitutional — State v. Bodyke applied. 
(Nos. 2010-0047 — Submitted January 19, 2011 — Decided April 5, 2011.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Hamilton County, No. C-081167. 
__________________ 
 
PFEIFER, J. 
Factual and Procedural Background 
{¶ 1} There is no dispute between the parties that defendant-appellant, 
Ronald Gingell, was convicted of three counts of rape in 1981, was incarcerated, 
and was originally classified as a sexually oriented offender pursuant to the 2003 
amendments to Megan’s Law.  Am.Sub.S.B. No. 5, Section I, 150 Ohio Laws, 
Part IV, 6558, 6687-6702 (eff. July 31, 2003).  To comply with Megan’s Law, 
Gingell had to verify his address once each year for ten years. Former R.C. 
2950.06(B)(2) and 2950.07(B).  Under former R.C. 2950.99, Gingell’s failure to 
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properly register as a sexually oriented offender would have been a fifth-degree 
felony. 
{¶ 2} As of January 1, 2008, the General Assembly repealed Megan’s 
Law and replaced it with the Adam Walsh Act (“AWA”), 2007 Am.Sub.S.B. No. 
10.  The parties agree that pursuant to the AWA, specifically R.C. 2950.031 and 
2950.032, Gingell was reclassified by the attorney general as a Tier III sexual 
offender.  R.C. 2950.06(B)(3) requires a Tier III offender to verify his address 
every 90 days for the rest of his life.  Pursuant to R.C. 2950.99(A)(1)(a), the 
failure to verify an address is the same degree offense as the underlying sexual 
offense.  In Gingell’s case, that meant that a failure to verify his address would be 
a first-degree felony. 
{¶ 3} On July 2, 2008, Gingell was indicted on two first-degree felony 
counts of violating R.C. 2950.05 and 2950.06.  The first count alleged that 
Gingell had failed to verify an address on or about May 6, 2008; the second 
alleged that Gingell had failed to provide notice of an address change on June 24, 
2008.  Gingell pleaded guilty to the first count; the second count was dismissed.  
On November 19, 2008, the trial court sentenced Gingell to an eight-year prison 
term and five years of postrelease control. 
{¶ 4} Gingell appealed to the First District Court of Appeals.  He argued 
that the trial court had erred in retroactively applying R.C. 2950.99, which made 
Gingell’s violation of R.C. 2950.06 a first-degree felony; he contended that the 
court should have applied the version of R.C. 2950.99 in place at the time of his 
original classification, which would have made his failure to verify his address a 
fifth-degree felony.  The court of appeals held that there was no retroactive 
application of R.C. 2950.99 because Gingell’s failure to register occurred after the 
January 1, 2008 effective date of the statute. 
{¶ 5} This court accepted a discretionary appeal by Gingell, an appeal 
that was based primarily upon the issue of the retroactivity of R.C. 2509.99.  
January Term, 2011 
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However, during the pendency of Gingell’s appeal, this court decided State v. 
Bodyke, 126 Ohio St.3d 266, 2010-Ohio-2424, 933 N.E.2d 753, which addressed 
the constitutionality of the reclassification under the AWA of sexual offenders 
previously classified under Megan’s Law. 
Law and Analysis 
{¶ 6} In Bodyke, this court held that R.C. 2950.031 and 2950.032, the 
reclassification provisions in the AWA, were unconstitutional and severed them 
from the AWA.  This court specifically addressed what that severance meant for 
offenders like Gingell, who had originally been classified under Megan’s Law and 
were then reclassified under the AWA: 
{¶ 7} “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.”  Bodyke, at ¶ 66. 
{¶ 8} Thus, pursuant to Bodyke, Gingell’s original classification under 
Megan’s Law and the associated community-notification and registration order 
were reinstated.  Therefore, the current version of R.C. 2950.06, which requires 
Tier III sexual offenders to register every 90 days, does not apply to Gingell.  
Since Gingell was charged after his reclassification and before Bodyke, there is no 
doubt that he was indicted for a first-degree felony for a violation of the reporting 
requirements under the AWA.  Since the application of the AWA was based upon 
an unlawful reclassification, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and 
vacate Gingell’s conviction for a violation of the 90-day address-verification 
requirement of R.C. 2509.06.  Gingell remained accountable for the yearly 
reporting requirement under Megan’s Law; whether he met that requirement is 
not a part of this case. 
Judgment reversed. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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O’CONNOR, C.J., and LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’DONNELL, LANZINGER, 
CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
Joseph T. Deters, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Paula E. 
Adams, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee. 
Ohio Justice & Policy Center, Margie Slagle, and David A. Singleton, for 
appellant. 
______________________