State v. Buser

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Johnson, J.:

Joseph M. Buser seeks review of the Court of Appeals’ holding that the 2011 amendments to the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA), K.S.A. 22-4901 et seq., can be applied retroactively to his 2009 conviction without violating the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution (hereafter Ex Post Facto Clause). Because KORA’s statutory scheme after the 2011 amendments is so punitive in effect as to negate the implied legislative intent to deem it civil, we hold that the Ex Post Facto Clause precludes the retroactive application of…