Opinion ID: 2095176
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Appellants and the Course of Proceedings

Text: Appellants are eight persons who committed sex offenses before the enactment of SORA and who have been designated as Class A offenders subject to SORA's lifetime registration regimen. Appellant K.M. was convicted of rape in South Carolina in 1969. He was paroled in 1984 after serving fifteen years in prison. K.M. successfully completed parole and has no subsequent convictions. Six of the appellantsW.M., S.M., D.T., M.D., R.H., and C.P.were found not guilty by reason of insanity of either rape or assault with intent to commit rape (plus other offenses, including murder in D.T.'s case) in the District of Columbia between 1975 and 1986. They all are on conditional release from St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Appellant W.B. was found not guilty by reason of insanity of sodomy in 1973. He too enjoys conditional release privileges from St. Elizabeth's Hospital. In the Superior Court, appellants challenged CSOSA's determination that they were required to register as sex offenders, arguing inter alia that SORA violates the Ex Post Facto, Double Jeopardy, and Due Process Clauses of the Constitution. Appellant W.B. also challenged his designation as a Class A rather than a Class B offender, disputing CSOSA's factual determination, on which his classification depended, that his sodomy offense involved his use of force. The Superior Court rejected appellants' challenges and ordered them to comply with SORA. Each appellant filed a timely notice of appeal to this court. We eventually consolidated the eight appeals. We also granted a partial stay pending appeal to appellants K.M. and D.T., prohibiting the MPD and CSOSA from posting their registry information on the Internet and limiting active notification in their cases to what SORA permits for Class B and Class C offenders. The other appellants thereafter received identical partial stays from either this court or the Superior Court.