516
Opinion of the Court
General Robinson, Deputy Solicitor General Dreeben, and Vicki S. Marani.*
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.
An amendment to a Texas statute that went into effect on September 1, 1993, authorized conviction of certain sexual offenses on the victim's testimony alone. The previous statute required the victim's testimony plus other corroborating evidence to convict the offender. The question presented is whether that amendment may be applied in a trial for offenses committed before the amendment's effective date without violating the constitutional prohibition against state "ex post facto" laws.
I
In 1996, a Texas grand jury returned a 15-count indictment charging petitioner with various sexual offenses against his stepdaughter. The alleged conduct took place over more than four years, from February 1991 to March 1995, when the victim was 12 to 16 years old. The conduct ceased after the victim told her mother what had happened. Petitioner was convicted on all 15 counts. The two most serious counts charged him with aggravated sexual assault, and petitioner was sentenced to life imprisonment on those two counts.
*Robert P. Marcovitch and Barbara Bergman filed a brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as amicus curiae urging reversal.
A brief of amici curiae urging affirmance was filed for the State of Kansas et al. by Carla J. Stovall, Attorney General of Kansas, and Stephen R. McAllister, State Solicitor, joined by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: Janet Napolitano of Arizona, M. Jane Brady of Delaware, Robert A. Butterworth of Florida, Jeffrey A. Modisett of Indiana, Richard P. Ieyoub of Louisiana, Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan, Joe Mazurek of Montana, Don Stenberg of Nebraska, Frankie Sue Del Papa of Nevada, Betty D. Montgomery of Ohio, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Charles M. Condon of South Carolina, Jan Graham of Utah, William H. Sorrell of Vermont, and Christine O. Gregoire of Washington.
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