Court Opinion

ID: 9685470
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:40:57.117559+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:06.643907
License: Public Domain

PAUL H. ANDERSON, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. I write separately because I conclude that both the majority opinion and Justice Page’s dissent miss the mark in their respective interpretations of the sex offender registration statute.
While I agree with much of what Justice Page says in his separate dissent, I do not join Justice Page because I conclude that in Part I he has gone too far in interpreting the sex offender registration notice requirement. I do not believe that it is necessary to reach this issue in order to decide the case before us. But even if we were required to reach this issue, I do not agree that the plain language of Minn.Stat. § 243.166, subd. 2 (1998), clearly indicates that the sex offender registration requirement must be included in the sentence of every sex offender.
Similarly, I cannot agree with the majority’s interpretation of the notice requirement because its interpretation goes too far in the other direction. Inexplicably, the majority concludes that the sentencing court is not required to notify a sex offender of his or her duty to register even though the statute explicitly states that “the court shall tell the [sex offender] of the duty to register.” MinmStat. § 243.166, subd. 2 (emphasis added). The plain language of the statute absolutely requires that the sentencing court notify a sex offender of the registration requirement. However, I find nothing in that statute that requires this notice to be part of the sentence itself.
I also write separately to emphasize my disagreement with the majority regarding the nature of the sex offender registration requirement. As I have noted in the past, sex offender registration is a serious consequence that should not be imposed without strict adherence to the procedural requirements of the law. Boutin v. LaFleur, 591 N.W.2d 711, 720 (Minn.1999) (Anderson, Paul H., J., dissenting). Further, we have held that an important procedural requirement under the laws of this state is that a guilty plea must be accurate, voluntary, and intelligent. Perkins v. State, 559 N.W.2d 678, 688 (Minn.1997). For a guilty plea to be intelligent, a defendant must be advised of the direct consequences of his plea. Alanis v. State, 583 *912N.W.2d 573, 578 (Minn.1998). I agree with Justice Page’s interpretation of Alan-is and his conclusion that the registration requirement is a definite, immediate, and automatic consequence of pleading guilty to Minn.Stat. § 617.247, subd. 4 (1996). Accordingly, Kaiser’s guilty plea was not intelligent and he should be allowed to withdraw the plea. Therefore, I would reverse the court of appeals and remand to the district court for further proceedings. Furthermore, in light of the conclusion reached by the majority today, I strongly urge that the court direct the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure to consider a proposal to amend the criminal rules to provide that a sentencing court “shall” notify a sex offender of the registration requirement.