KYCOA - Canada - Directed Verdict Failure to Register

Norman Allen Canada v. Commonwealth 

Directed Verdict should have been granted when the Commonwealth failed to prove the defendant knowingly failed to register as a sex offender. Mr. Canada advised his caseworker that he needed to move but was unable to contact her to approve his new residence prior to moving. 

Carolyn Clark-Cox did an excellent job arguing for directed verdict in the circuit court.

Contributed by John Landon

KY COA April 5 - McGranahan - Sex Offender Registration

McGranahan v. Commonwealth,  
2012-CA-000208-MR, (not to be published) 

The Court once again acknowledged that mistakes can be made in the maintenance of the sexual offender registration list, holding that it was palpable error not to grant a directed verdict when the Commonwealth failed to prove that the defendant was required to register as a sex offender based solely upon the testimony of the detective in charge of the sex offender registry that "something happened" to extend McGranahan’s original 10 year period of registration, which had expired, into a lifetime requirement. The court further concluded that merely requesting a directed verdict on general grounds without specifying a basis was insufficient to preserve the error.

Contributed by John Landon

KY COA - Hawk - Sex Offender Registration

Daniel Hawk v. Commonwealth - 3/15/13 - Reversing and Remanding

Hawk was convicted of failure to register as a sex offender, second offense, because he had one prior offense for failing to register in Michigan.  Hawk argued that the state specifically required a prior conviction in Kentucky to be guilty of failure to register, second offense.  

The Court of Appeals agreed. “We must agree with Appellant that the plain language of KRS 17.510 requires a prior conviction under the current Kentucky statute, or a prior version of such, to sustain a conviction for failure to register, second offense. If the legislature had intended to punish someone who has a prior offense in a foreign jurisdiction as a second time offender, it would have been so stated in the statute.” 

Bob Ganstine argued the case before the trial court and Erin Yang briefed the case on appeal. 

Contributed by Jason Apollo Hart