State v. Lingerfelt

Summary

The Court held that successive petitions to terminate sex-offender registration under the applicable statute are part of the same underlying proceeding and are governed by law of the case. Because Lingerfelt did not appeal the 2019 final order classifying him as a Tier II offender, he could not challenge that legal determination in his 2023 petition, although fact-based public-safety determinations may be reconsidered in later petitions. The Court therefore modified and affirmed the Court of Appeals on that basis, without reaching the remainder of its analysis.