Does 2008 Increase in Penalty for Registration Violation Entitle Prior Sex Offender to Withdraw No Contest Plea?

Where New Legislation Changed Violation from Misdemeanor to Felony

State of Ohio v. Aaron K. Richey, Case no. 2009-1423

10th District Court of Appeals (Franklin County)

ISSUE: When the legislature enacted the Ohio Adam Walsh Act (AWA) in 2008, and in that act retroactively increased the registration requirements for pre-2008 sex offenders and elevated a registration violation by a misdemeanor sex offender from a misdemeanor to a felony offense, did those changes violate the contractual agreement under which a pre-2008 offender entered a plea of no contest, and create a "manifest injustice" sufficient to allow such an offender to withdraw his no-contest plea and be re-tried on the original charge?