Sentencing; The 2011 iteration of Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA); Ex post facto punishment; Whether People v Betts applies retroactively

Holding that Betts applies retroactively to defendants on collateral review, the court reversed the Court of Appeals’ decision that reversed the trial court’s order granting defendant’s motion for relief from judgment, and remanded. Defendant was convicted of or adjudicated for CSC III in 2004 and sentenced as a juvenile. Under the version of SORA then in effect, he was required to register as a sex offender and notify law enforcement of any change of address within 10 days. In 2015 he was planning to move into a new home. He notified law enforcement and updated his address, but the tenant occupying the property did not leave as scheduled. As a result, defendant’s “address was incorrect for a total of 19 days” and he pled guilty to failure to comply with the 2011 SORA’s registration requirements. In 2022, he moved for relief from judgment based on Betts, which held that the 2011 version of SORA constituted “unconstitutional ex post facto punishment pursuant to the federal and state Constitutions[.]” He sought to vacate his 2015 conviction for failing to register under the 2011 SORA. The trial court vacated his conviction and sentence. Reversing, the Court of Appeals held “that the trial court erred in failing to give the prosecutor appropriate time to respond and in holding that Betts applied retroactively.” On defendant’s appeal, the court concluded that Betts is retroactively applicable under “both federal and state retroactivity principles[.]” It determined “that Betts announced a new rule” of law, and further concluded “that the rule announced in Betts was substantive in nature.”