Legal News Headlines

 
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 July 8, 2008 Tuesday
Main Edition

SECTION: METRO NEWS; Pg. 1B

LENGTH: 580 words

BYLINE: BILL RANKIN; Staff

BODY: 

Georgia's sex offender registry law should be struck down because it makes homelessness a crime, a lawyer told the state's highest court on Monday.

"The law is fundamentally unfair to homeless sex offenders," public defender Adam Levin argued to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Levin represents William James Santos, charged in Hall County for failing to register a new address in the sex offender registry. Because this would be his second failure-to-register offense, Santos faces a mandatory life sentence.

The registry law, with the harshest penalties in the nation, requires sex offenders to provide a route or street address within 72 hours after being released from custody or moving to a new address. The law states that an offender cannot use "homeless" as an address.

Santos had lived at the Good News at Noon homeless shelter in Gainesville and correctly gave that address on the registry. But in July 2006, Santos was forced to leave the shelter.

For the next three months, Santos was homeless and could not give an address and comply with the statute, Levin said. In October 2006, Santos was arrested and later indicted.

Levin argued there is precedent by the U.S. Supreme Court supporting his position. In 1983, the high court ruled that someone on probation cannot be imprisoned if they are found to be indigent and cannot afford to pay a court-imposed fine.

Sex offenders who can afford roofs over their heads can give a proper address, Levin said. But homeless offenders such as Santos cannot and are subject to prosecution, he argued.

Hall County Assistant District Attorney Vanessa Sykes urged the state Supreme Court to uphold the law and allow Santos' prosecution to go forward.

"He is not being charged with being homeless," Sykes said. "He is charged with not registering as a sex offender."

Santos is a three-time convicted felon and is exactly the type of offender the sex offender registry law is designed to target, she added.

Sykes argued that a sex offender can give "a temporary address" --- such as the location of the bridge they are sleeping under for the night or a car --- even if it is updated on a daily basis.

Justice Harris Hines wondered how this could be done when some homeless offenders may not know in advance where they are going to sleep. Justice Carol Hunstein said, practically speaking, it might be a good idea for the homeless to find a place to sleep near the local sheriff's office, where they have to change their address on the registry.

The Southern Center for Human Rights, which filed legal briefs in support of Santos' appeal, noted that counties across Georgia interpret the law differently. Some counties allow an offender to give the location, such as the intersection of streets or the street location of a bridge, of where a homeless offender is sleeping. But other counties require a specific street address and will prosecute offenders if they cannot provide one, the human rights group said.

The Southern Center noted that, because of restrictions prohibiting sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of where children congregate, only one homeless shelter in the state qualifies under the law --- and it has only two available beds.

Justice Hugh Thompson told Sykes if the objective of the law is to make sure where sex offenders are located, wouldn't it be better if the statute spelled out exactly what types of addresses homeless people can provide? "I'm not going to stand here and argue that wouldn't be helpful," Sykes replied.

LOAD-DATE: July 8, 2008