The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court sustained the state police’s preliminary objections to a petition for review seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The petitioner argued that the registration and reporting requirements under the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA II) are punitive as applied to him in violation of the ex post facto clauses of the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions. As a result of a criminal conviction in 1998, the petitioner was required to register as a sex offender for 10 years. Two years later, the law was amended and required him to register for life. The Court wrestled mainly with the petitioner’s claim that Subchapter I of SORNA II violated his due process rights due to an irrebuttable presumption that his risk of recidivism is high. But the Court found that the petitioner offered only legal conclusions, unwarranted inferences from facts, argumentative allegations, and expressions of opinion. None warranted relief.
