State high court Good law

Wallace v. State

905 N.E.2d 371 (Ind. 2009)

Indiana’s registry act is punitive as applied to someone charged, convicted and sentenced before it existed.

Court
Indiana Supreme Court
Decided
April 30, 2009
Reach
Indiana
Verified
September 30, 2026
Read the opinion All cases

Good law. Still followed. Later cases may have narrowed it — see Scope. Final word on that state’s own law and constitution — in that state only.

What happened

Richard Wallace was charged, convicted and sentenced for a sex offense before Indiana’s registration act took effect. He was later prosecuted for failing to register.

What the court decided

In a unanimous opinion by Justice Rucker, the court applied the same seven factors the U.S. Supreme Court used in Smith v. Doe but reached the opposite answer under the Indiana Constitution’s ex post facto clause (Article 1, § 24). As applied to Wallace, the act imposed punishment, and his conviction was reversed.

Why it matters to the Registry

Wallace was the first high court to part ways with Smith v. Doe under a state constitution. Its reasoning — the same test, weighed differently — is the template for most of the state cases that followed.

What it did not decide

The ruling protects people whose offense, conviction and sentence all came before the act. In Jensen v. State, decided the same day, the court found no violation where a person already had a duty to register and the law extended it; later decisions also found none where the duty comes from another state’s registration requirement.

Legal Disclaimer

These are plain-language summaries of court decisions, written for general education. A ruling binds only the courts beneath the court that issued it, later decisions and new laws can change what it means, and how it applies to any one person depends on facts a summary cannot capture. Read the opinion itself, and talk to a lawyer licensed in your state before relying on any case. This page is not legal advice.