J. A24036/18
2019 PA Super 329
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
v. :
:
MEGHAN ELIZABETH HAINES, : No. 1827 MDA 2017
:
Appellant :
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence, October 27, 2017,
in the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County
Criminal Division at No. CP-36-CR-0001204-2017
BEFORE: OTT, J., McLAUGHLIN, J., AND FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.
OPINION BY FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.: FILED OCTOBER 30, 2019
Meghan Elizabeth Haines appeals from the October 27, 2017 judgment
of sentence entered by the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County
following her conviction of two counts of indecent assault of a person less than
13 years of age.1 After careful review, we affirm in part and vacate in part.
The trial court provided the following synopsis of the relevant procedural
history:
On July 6, 2017, [appellant] pleaded guilty to two (2)
counts of Indecent Assault of a person less than
thirteen years of age. The charges related to incidents
between both victims and [appellant] that occurred
sometime between 2005 and 2006, when [appellant]
was between fourteen and fifteen. The victim did not
disclose the allegations until 2016, when [appellant]
was over the age of twenty-one. Prior to sentencing,
[appellant] filed a motion [entitled] “Motion to Bar
1 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3126(a)(7).
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Imposition of Megan’s Law Registration pursuant to
Commonwealth v. Muniz[,”2] seeking exclusion
from lifetime registration pursuant to SORNA.[3] That
Motion was denied by [the trial court,] and [appellant]
was sentenced to five (5) years[’] probation on each
charge, to run consecutively.
Trial court opinion, 2/16/18 at 1 (footnote omitted).
Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal to this court on November 27,
2017.4 The trial court ordered appellant to file a concise statement of errors
complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). Appellant timely
complied with the trial court’s order, and the trial court filed an opinion
pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a).
Appellant raises the following issues for our review:
I. Can [appellant] be required to register as a sex
offender where SORNA II, enacted February 21,
2018, in an ex post facto law, which may not
be applied to the instant offenses, which were
committed in 2005?
The applicable registration law changed after
[appellant] was ordered to register; however,
the court below held that [appellant] could be
required to register under a previous,
unspecified version of Megan’s Law.
2 See Commonwealth v. Muniz, 164 A.3d 1189 (Pa. 2017).
3 Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9799.10-
9799.41, amended and replaced by 2018, Feb. 21, P.L. 27, No. 10, § 19,
immediately effective. Reenacted 2018, June 12, P.L. 140, No. 29, § 14,
immediately effective. 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9799.51-9799.75 (SORNA II).
4 November 26, 2017 fell on a Sunday. Accordingly, a notice of appeal could
be timely filed the following business day. See 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1908.
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II. Can [appellant] be required to register as a sex
offender where she was a juvenile when the
offense occurred in 2005, and registration as a
sex offender under those circumstances
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and a
violation of the due process clauses of the Fifth
and Fourteenth Amendments to the United
States Constitution, and Article [I], Section Nine
of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania?
The court below found that despite having
committed a sex offense as a juvenile,
[appellant] was required to register because she
was convicted of the offense as an adult.
Appellant’s brief at 4.
In her first issue, appellant challenges the constitutionality of SORNA II.
SORNA II, however, did not become effective until June 12, 2018, which was
after the trial court imposed appellant’s judgment of sentence. Clearly then,
appellant was not sentenced under SORNA II. Therefore, appellant’s
constitutional challenge to SORNA II is not properly before us, and we decline
to entertain the challenge.
We will, however, address appellant’s second issue in which she
contends that requiring her to register as a sexual offender for crimes that she
committed as a juvenile in 2005 constitutes cruel and unusual punishment
and violates the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments
of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 9 of the Pennsylvania
Constitution. (Appellant’s brief at 32.) “Because this issue presents a
question of law, our standard of review is de novo and our scope of review is
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plenary.” Commonwealth v. Horning, 193 A.3d 411, 414 (Pa.Super. 2018),
appeal denied,
204 A.3d 370 (Pa. 2019), citing Commonwealth v. Lee,
935 A.2d 865, 876 (Pa. 2007).
In In re J.B., 107 A.3d 1 (Pa. 2014), our supreme court addressed the
issue of whether the imposition of lifetime registration requirements pursuant
to SORNA on juvenile offenders adjudicated delinquent of certain crimes
constituted a violation of juvenile offenders’ due process rights through the
use of an irrebuttable presumption – the risk of reoffending.
Id. at 14. We
recognize that J.B. was decided before Muniz, which clearly holds that
application of SORNA to sex offenders who committed their crimes prior to
SORNA’s enactment constitutes an ex post facto violation. Muniz,
164 A.3d
at 1223. The issue we now consider is whether J.B. applies to criminal
defendants who committed their crimes as juveniles, but were convicted as
adults. We hold that it does.
In J.B., the court examined SORNA as applied to seven juveniles
adjudicated delinquent for sexual offenses. Id. at 2-3. The consolidated cases
arose from a determination by York County Court of Common Pleas
Judge John C. Ulher that the SORNA registration requirements, as applied to
juveniles, were unconstitutional. Id. at 10. In agreeing with the trial court’s
decision, our supreme court also reviewed and credited scientific research that
concluded that, unlike adult sexual offenders, juveniles exhibit lower levels of
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recidivism, a fundamental underpinning to the registration requirements of
SORNA.
We additionally agree with the Juveniles’ assertion
and the trial court’s holding that SORNA’s
presumption that sexual offenders pose a high risk of
recidivating is not universally true when applied to
juvenile offenders. As credited by the trial court,
studies suggest that many of those who commit
sexual offenses as juveniles do so as a result of
impulsivity and sexual curiosity, which diminish with
rehabilitation and general maturation. See Tr. Ct. Op.
at 17-18; see also Halbrook, Amy, Juvenile Pariahs,
65 Hastings L.J. 1, 11–12 (2013).
Id. at 17.
Additionally, the J.B. court looked to the United States Supreme Court’s
decision in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 465 (2012), in which the
High Court held that mandatory sentences of life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole for homicide defendants under 18 years of age at the time
the crime was committed was unconstitutional. This decision in Miller was
based on the inherent understanding of the fundamental differences between
adults and children, children’s lack of maturity, and their underdeveloped
sense of responsibility leading to recklessness, impulsivity, and heedless
risk-taking.
Id. at 471 (citation omitted).
The J.B. court relied on this rationale from Miller to corroborate the
scientific research involving juveniles and their brain development and stated:
Pennsylvania has long noted the distinctions between
juveniles and adults and juveniles’ amenability to
rehabilitation. Pennsylvania utilizes courts which are
specifically trained to address the distinct issues
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involving youth, and are guided by the concepts of
balanced and restorative justice. Indeed, these goals
are evident in the introductory section of the Juvenile
Act, which instructs that the Act must be construed as
follows:
to provide for children committing
delinquent acts programs of supervision,
care and rehabilitation which provide
balanced attention to the protection of the
community, the imposition of
accountability for offenses committed and
the development of competencies to
enable children to become responsible
and productive members of the
community.
42 Pa.C.S.[A.] § 6301(b)(2). While our courts are
mandated to be always watchful of juveniles’
rehabilitation, while also providing accountability to
the victim and society, SORNA’s automatic
registration removes the juvenile judges’ ability to
consider the rehabilitative prospects of individual
juvenile sexual offenders.
Id. at 18 (footnote omitted).
The court then went on to conclude that with respect to juveniles,
“SORNA’s registration requirements improperly brand all juvenile offenders’
reputations with an indelible mark of a dangerous recidivist, even though the
irrebuttable presumption linking adjudication of specified offenses with a high
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likelihood of recidivating is not ‘universally true.’” Id. at 19 (citation
omitted).5
Returning to the instant case, appellant was 14 years of age at the time
she committed the sexual offenses. Clearly, under J.B., had she been
adjudicated delinquent at that time, no registration requirement would apply
to her. Appellant’s subsequent conviction of the sexual offenses when she
was an adult does not diminish the fact that she was a juvenile at the time of
their commission, and because of that, she should not be held to an
irrebuttable presumption of reoffending at age 26. J.B. requires us to analyze
appellant’s behavior at the time the offenses were committed. For these
reasons, we find that the J.B. court’s holding should apply with equal weight
to juvenile adjudications as well as to defendants convicted as adults for
crimes committed as juveniles.
Judgment of sentence vacated in part and affirmed in part. Jurisdiction
relinquished.
5 We note that SORNA II mandates individualized assessments for juveniles
adjudicated delinquent of certain crimes and who are committed to an
institution nearing their 20th birthday to determine whether continued
involuntary civil commitment is necessary. Id. at 19; see 42 Pa.C.S.A.
§ 9799.58(h). The J.B. court further noted that, “[a] similar process could be
utilized to assess which juvenile offenders are at high risk to recidivate.” J.B.,
107 A.3d at 19.
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Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 10/30/2019
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