Pre-2011 Sex Offenders May No Longer Appear On Registry

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/09/2026) The Michigan Supreme Court unanimously ruled today that Michigan's current sex offender registry law cannot be applied to people whose registration-triggering crimes occurred before July 1, 2011, finding that doing so amounts to unconstitutional punishment imposed after the fact.

The ruling in People v. Eddie Lee Smith potentially affects an unknown number of longtime registrants whose underlying offenses predate the Legislature's major 2011 rewrite of the Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA). The Court also said the state cannot simply place those people under an older version of the registry law instead.

The case involved Eddie Lee Smith, whose crimes occurred in 1995 and 2010. Smith was nevertheless required to register under the version of SORA that took effect in 2021.

"The statutory requirements enacted after the commission of his crimes amount to punishment," the Court wrote. Requiring Smith to comply with the 2021 law therefore constitutes "an ex post facto punishment" prohibited by both the U.S. and Michigan constitutions.

In plain English, the government cannot create additional criminal punishment years after someone commits an offense and then apply that new punishment backward.

The Court reversed a January 2025 Court of Appeals ruling against Smith, partially vacated a Kent Circuit Court decision and sent the case back to the trial court. More broadly, the justices held that the 2021 SORA "may not be retroactively applied" to registrants whose registration-triggering acts occurred before the 2011 amendments. The Court also rejected "severance or revival" of earlier versions of SORA as a solution.

That latter piece could create a larger issue for the Legislature. Unlike when the Supreme Court issued a similar ruling involving the 2011 registry in 2021, there is no newer replacement law already waiting to take its place for the people covered by Wednesday's order. A press release from attorneys supporting Smith said anyone affected by the ruling has already been on the registry for at least 15 years.

Wednesday's ruling follows the Supreme Court's December 2025 decision in People v Kardasz, which concluded that Michigan's 2021 registry is punishment rather than merely a civil regulatory program. In Kardasz, the Court pointed to lifetime registration for some offenders, repeated in-person reporting requirements, publication of registrants' information online and possible imprisonment for failing to comply.

The Kardasz ruling set up Wednesday's constitutional question: If today's SORA is punishment, can those requirements be imposed on someone who committed a crime before those punishments existed? The Court answered no.

"Mr. Smith served his sentence and completed his parole," said Smith attorney Drew Walbeck. "The Michigan Supreme Court confirmed what both the federal and state constitutions have always guaranteed him: the government cannot impose a punishment that did not exist when the crime was committed."

State Appellate Defender Office Deputy Director Jessica Zimbelman, who filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, said the ruling follows the same approach the Court took in the 2021 People v Betts decision.

"Michigan's Constitution does not let the state write a new punishment and then apply it backward to people who were sentenced years or decades earlier," Zimbelman said.

The ruling does not affect people whose registration-triggering offenses occurred on or after July 1, 2011. Those registrants remain subject to the current SORA requirements.