(2 Counts) Felony Failure to Register as a Sex Offender Reduced to Probation with Zero Days in Jail  – State v. Mr. S (DMC No. 12405) (St. John’s Justice Court/Apache County Superior Court CR2014-0175): Mr. S and his wife lived in Michigan and they bought a vacation home in Concho, Arizona in Apache County.  They would come out several days at a time and stay at that vacation home before travelling back to Michigan.  At some point, Mr. S’s wife became embroiled in a dispute with a neighbor and an Order of Protection was issued in which the police became involved.  The neighbor did some research and informed police that Mr. S was a registered sex offender.  The police then discovered that he had not registered in the State of Arizona per Arizona Revised Statute ARS 13-3821.

After he was arrested and charged with 2 counts of Failure to Register – 1 count for Failing to Register as a transient every 90 days, and 1 count for Failure to Register within 10 days of remaining in Apache County – we became involved in the case.  We were able to show by tracking down telephone logs that Mr. S and his wife had indeed called the Apache County Sheriff’s Office several times to get information on whether they had a duty to register.  In addition, Mr. S had received erroneous information from prior counsel telling him that he did not have to register.  Because it was possible that these defenses could be successful at trial, the Prosecutor agreed to reduce the charge down to Probation with zero days in jail.  If Mr. S had gone to trial and lost, he would have been facing mandatory prison time.