CALVIN L. SMITH v. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
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RENDERED: JULY 19, 2002; 10:00 a.m.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
C ommonwealth O f K entucky
C ourt O f A ppeals
NO.
1999-CA-000732-MR
CALVIN L. SMITH
APPELLANT
APPEAL FROM JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT
HONORABLE THOMAS WINE, JUDGE
ACTION NO. 93-CR-001150
v.
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
APPELLEE
OPINION
AFFIRMING
** ** ** ** **
BEFORE:
BARBER, JOHNSON AND SCHRODER, JUDGES.
JOHNSON, JUDGE:
Calvin Smith has appealed to this Court from the
order of Sex Offender Risk Determination entered by the Jefferson
Circuit Court on March 29, 1999, finding him to be a high risk
sex offender.
Having concluded that Smith’s classification was
set in a manner consistent with Hyatt v. Commonwealth,1 and that
the 1998 amendments apply to him, we affirm.
By judgment entered on October 6, 1993, the circuit
court accepted Smith’s guilty plea and convicted him of four
1
Ky., 72 S.W.3d 566 (2002).
counts of sexual abuse in the first degree.2
Smith received
prison sentences totaling ten years.
In preparation for his release from prison, Smith was
assessed pursuant to the Sex Offender Assessment Act as amended
in 1998.3
As a result of the hearing conducted pursuant to KRS
17.570, Smith was found to be a high risk sex offender.
This appeal was abated pending resolution by the
Supreme Court of Kentucky of the constitutional challenge to the
1998 amendments to the Sex Offender Assessment Statutes.
On
February 21, 2002, the Supreme Court rendered its opinion in
Hyatt, upholding the constitutionality of the 1998 amendments.
When the Supreme Court’s opinion became final, this Court entered
an order directing Smith to show cause why the decision of the
circuit court should not be affirmed on the basis of the Hyatt
opinion.
In response to the show cause order, Smith argues that
the Hyatt opinion does not dispose of the issue of the
applicability of the 1998 amendments to him.
Smith argues that
since he was convicted in 1993, the 1998 amendments do not apply
to him and that he is not subject to the procedure set out in
those amendments.
However, in Hyatt, the Supreme Court found the 1998
amendments to be applicable to three inmates who had been
incarcerated before the effective date of the amendments, and
remained incarcerated on the effective date of the amendments.
2
Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 510.110.
3
KRS 17.500 et seq.
-2-
Section 199 of 1998 Kentucky Acts Chapter 606 reads as follows:
The provisions of Sections 138 through
155 of this Act shall apply to persons
individually sentenced or incarcerated after
the effective date of this Act.4
The statute does not use the words “began incarceration” or
“entered into incarceration”.
The Legislature has directed that
the amendments apply to persons “incarcerated after the effective
date of the Act.”
If the Legislature had intended to apply the
1998 amendments only to individuals who received sentences after
the effective date of July 15, 1998, there would have been no
need to add the phrase “or incarcerated”.
We believe the use of
this additional phrase clearly shows the Legislature’s intent to
also include inmates who had been sentenced before July 15, 1998,
and remained incarcerated on July 15, 1998.
Since Smith was
incarcerated at the time the Act became effective, the Act does
apply to him and it was proper for the circuit court to make the
Sex Offender Risk Determination.
Accordingly, the order of Sex Offender Risk
Determination entered by the Jefferson Circuit Court is affirmed.
ALL CONCUR.
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT:
BRIEF FOR APPELLEE:
J. David Niehaus
Daniel T. Goyette
Louisville, Kentucky
Albert B. Chandler, III
Attorney General
Tami Allen Stetler
Assistant Attorney General
Frankfort, Kentucky
4
The effective date was July 15, 1998.
-3-
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