Former coach’s petition denied

Appeals court upholds Hollingshead’s sexual registration requirement

A state appeals court has upheld a lifetime sexual registration requirement imposed on a former Altoona Area High School girls assistant soccer coach in 2014, after she pleaded guilty to the abuse of two of her players.

The coach, Kyla A. Hollingshead, now 34, of Pittsburgh, has repeatedly challenged the lifetime requirement as unconstitutional because her crimes at the time of sentencing -- corruption of minors and institutional sexual assault -- did not require registration as a sexual offender with the Pennsylvania State Police.

But the laws applying to sexual offenders have undergone a series of changes since Hollingshead was arrested.

In December 2012, the former Megan's Law III was replaced by Pennsylvania's Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, referred to as SORNA.

The new law proved to be controversial because some of its requirements were applied retroactively to individuals who were sentenced under Megan's Law.

The first major challenge came in 2017, when the Supreme Court determined that applying new registration requirements to past cases was unconstitutional because it amounted to ex post facto punishment.

In 2020, the Supreme Court reversed its decision when it determined registration, public notification and counseling "did not constitute criminal punishment" under SORNA.

The state's highest court concluded those factors were an appropriate expression of the government's interest in public safety.

The state legislature continued to make changes in SORNA, for instance, making the charges of corruption of minors and institutional sexual assault -- the crimes Hollingshead pleaded to -- Tier 1 offenses under SORNA, which required registration for 15 years.

However, Hollingshead, when sentenced, was also declared to be a sexually violent predator after an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board.

This designation even under Megan's Law carried with it lifetime registration.

The Blair County judge, in his sentencing order, imposed lifetime registration as a result of the board's finding.

Hollingshead argued in a recent appeal to the state Superior Court that the SVP designation in her case was unconstitutional because of the high court's initial declaration that the registration laws under SORNA were unconstitutional.

The issues surrounding SORNA remain unsettled even now and, according to a Superior Court decision issued last Friday, Hollingshead argued her case "falls into a very narrow black hole."

On one hand, she was convicted under the old laws regarding sexual offenders but still faces a lifetime of registration under SORNA.

She argued that, at most, she should only be required under SORNA to register for 10 years.

A panel of the Superior Court that included Judges Jack A. Panella, Megan King and John T. Bender, in their opinion Friday, disagreed.

The panel ruled that, under the most recent interpretation of the laws affecting sexual offenders, the SVP designation, even though it was applied under Megan's law, is valid under SORNA.

"The basis for her registration (under the Supreme's Court's ruling) is due to her SVP classification, not the commission of the underlying crimes (of corruption of minors and institutional sexual assault)," the Superior Court opinion stated.

Her registration obligations are not tied to a particular crime, the panel clarified.

Instead, it stated she must register due to the trial court's determination in 2014 that she was a sexually violent predator -- defined as a person who is likely to reoffend.

The Superior Court explained that Hollingshead was hired as an assistant soccer coach by the Altoona Area High School in 2010.

In October of that year, she began a romantic relationship with a 15-year-old player.

In 2012, she had a second romantic relationship with a 16-year-old player.

Hollingshead was eventually sentenced by Blair County Judge Timothy M. Sullivan to a jail term of 60 days to 23.5 months. Her term was to be followed by 30 months of probation.

Her SVP hearing was not held until March 2014.

The judge heard testimony from Corrine Scheuneman of the state assessment board and psychologist Tim Foley before making his decision.