Court Cases

Ryals v. City of Englewood

Criminal Legal Reform

Filed: August 22, 2013
Status: Decided
Court: Colorado Supreme Court
Latest Update: Jan 26, 2016

Summary

In this case, ACLU attorneys challenged an Englewood ordinance that makes it a crime for registered sex offenders to live within 2,000 feet of any school, park, or playground, or 1,000 feet of any licensed day care center, recreation center, or swimming pool. As a practical matter, the ordinance bans previously convicted sex offenders from living in the city.

The ACLU’s client, Brett Ryals, was unaware of the ordinance when he bought a home in Englewood in 2012. He had already served a sentence from his 2001 felony conviction. He had participated in state-mandated treatment and rehabilitation. He had been supervised by state authorities for years until he was deemed safe and released from parole. When he complied with his legal obligation to register his new residence with the Englewood police, he was charged with violating the residency restriction, a misdemeanor.

The prosecution of Mr. Ryals was stayed while the ACLU’s civil lawsuit challenging the ordinance proceeded. ACLU attorneys filed the lawsuit in state court, asserting that the Englewood ordinance is an unconstitutional ex post facto law, violates due process, and is preempted by the Colorado Constitution. Englewood removed the case to federal district court.

After a trial, Judge Jackson ruled that the ordinance exceeded Englewood's home rule powers and was preempted by the Colorado Constitution. Ryals v. City of Englewood, 962 S.Supp.2d 1236 (D. Colo. 2013). Englewood appealed to the Tenth Circuit, which sent the controlling state-law question to the Colorado Supreme Court. That court ruled against Ryals in 2016. Ryals v. City of Englewood, 364 P.2d 900 (Colo. 2016).