People v. Grochocki
Case Date: 08/26/2003
Court: 3rd District Appellate
Docket No: 3-02-0196 Rel
David Grochocki was found guilty of sexual exploitation of achild (720 ILCS 5/11--9.1(a)(1) (West 2000)) and sentenced to 12months of conditional discharge. He was also required toregister under the Sex Offender Registration Act (RegistrationAct) (730 ILCS 150/1 et seq. (West 2000)). He filed a motion toreconsider his sentence, which was denied. He also filed amotion to declare recent amendments to the Sex Offender and ChildMurderer Community Notification Law (Notification Law) (730 ILCS152/101 et seq. (West 2000)) unconstitutional. That motion wasdenied as well. Grochocki then filed this appeal claiming: (1) the recentamendments violate his right to privacy under the IllinoisConstitution; (2) the amendments violate the proportionatepenalties clause of the Illinois Constitution; (3) the amendmentsviolate his due process rights under the Illinois Constitution;and (4) his sentence of conditional discharge is excessive. Wedisagree with these claims and thus affirm the circuit court'sjudgment. The Registration Act requires sex offenders to register withcertain specified government officials. 730 ILCS 150/3 (West2000). Prior to July 1, 2000, the Notification Law requiredofficials to disclose a sex offender's registration informationto school boards, school principals, and child care facilities inthe county where the offender resided. 730 ILCS 152/120(a) (West1998). The information included the offender's "name, address,date of birth, and offense or adjudication." 730 ILCS 152/120(a)(West 1998). Officials could also disclose the information toany person likely to encounter the offender (730 ILCS 152/120(b)(West 1998)), and the information was available for publicinspection at municipal police departments and county sheriff'soffices (730 ILCS 152/120(c) (West 1998)). On July 1, 2000, two amendments expanded the scope ofdisclosure under the Notification Law. The following languagewas added to section 115 of the Law: "The Department of State Police must make theinformation contained in the Statewide Sex OffenderDatabase accessible on the Internet by means of ahyperlink labeled Sex Offender Information on theDepartment's World Wide Web home page. The Departmentof State Police must update that information as itdeems necessary. The Department of State Police may require that aperson who seeks access to the sex offender informationsubmit biographical information about himself orherself before permitting access to the sex offenderinformation. The Department of State Police may limitaccess to the sex offender information to informationabout sex offenders who reside within a specifiedgeographic area in proximity to the address of theperson seeking that information. The Department ofState Police must promulgate rules in accordance withthe Illinois Administrative Procedure Act to implementthis subsection (b) and those rules must includeprocedures to ensure that the information in thedatabase is accurate." 730 ILCS 152/115(b) (West2002). The following language was added to section 120 of the Law: "The sheriff or a municipal police department maypublish the photographs of sex offenders where anyvictim was 13 years of age or younger and who arerequired to register in the municipality or countyunder the Sex Offender Registration Act in a newspaperor magazine of general circulation in the municipalityor county or may disseminate the photographs of thosesex offenders on the Internet or on television." 730ILCS 152/120(c) (West 2002). In October of 2000 Grochocki and James Manski took theirchildren to spend the night at a motel. Grochocki took twodaughters and a son, and Manski took a 13-year-old daughter(Terri) and a son. The two men drank alcohol while the childrenplayed until about midnight. Then Grochocki retired to one roomwith the girls, and Manski retired to another room with the boys. Terri testified that she awoke around 3 a.m. and found Grochockisitting in a chair, naked from the waist down, masturbating withhis feet on her bed. He said: "Oh Terri, it feels so good--I'vealways wanted you." Terry left the room and later told herparents about the incident. Grochocki acknowledged sitting in a chair next to Terri'sbed and reading a book while smoking a cigarette. However, hesaid he drank a lot of alcohol that night and did not rememberthe incident. He denied any knowledge of masturbation. At the sentencing hearing, Jeffery Martin (a licensedclinical social worker) testified that Grochocki posed a low riskof recidivism. Martin based his opinion on several factors,including: no history of paraphilic interest; no signs ofcompulsiveness related to sexual behaviors; a single victim; andthe hands-off nature of the offense. Martin assessed Grochocki'sprognosis as favorable given his responsiveness to treatment, asolid history of community involvement, and no other history ofacting out. Pursuant to the Notification Law, Grochocki's photograph waspublished on the Internet along with biographical informationincluding his full name, date of birth, height, weight, andaddress. We conduct a de novo review of decisions regarding theconstitutionality of statutes. People v. Fisher, 184 Ill. 2d 441(1998). Grochocki argues that the amendments permit his registrationinformation to be "disseminated broadly and without anyrestriction." Such unbridled scope, he claims, violates hisstate constitutional right to privacy. In his view, thedissemination should be more "carefully tailored to the risk ofre-offense and to specific individuals or groups likely to comeinto contact with [him]." Article I, section 6, of the Illinois Constitution reads:"The people shall have the right to be secure in their persons,houses, papers and other possessions against unreasonable ***invasions of privacy." Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, |
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