David Clark v. Paul O'Connell

Petitioner David Bernard Clark appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner contends that an Arizona Court of Appeals’ decision that Arizona’s modern sex offender registration statute, Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-3821 , is not an ex post facto law is both contrary to and involves an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law. Reviewing the district court’s decision de novo, Pollard v. White, 119 F.3d 1430, 1433 (9th Cir. 1997), we affirm.

In 1982, Petitioner pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct, a Class 2 felony in Arizona, arising from an incident in which he engaged in sex with a fourteen-year-old, which is below the legal age of consent, when he was eighteen years old. As punishment, he received and completed a four-year term of probation. Arizona enacted its modern sex offender registration statute in 1983, Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-3821 , requiring Petitioner to register as a sex offender because of his prior conviction for sexual misconduct. See State v. Henry, 224 Ariz. 164 , 228 P.3d 900, 904 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2010) (noting that, between 1978 and 1983, Arizona was without a sex offender registration statute).

In…