State v Dickerson

2-3-2006 Idaho:

State v Dickerson
129 P.3d 1263 (2006)

This case involves the interpretation and the constitutionality of former Idaho Code § 18-8304, a component of the Sex Offender Registration Notification and Community Right-to-Know Act ("the Act"), as it existed in 2003. Thomas C. Dickerson contends that the charge against him for failure to register as a sex offender was improper because he was not required to register under the provisions of I.C. § 18-8304. Alternatively, he argues that if the statute is interpreted to have imposed a registration requirement upon him, then it violated his constitutional right to travel guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. We hold that I.C. § 18-8304(1)(b) imposed a registration requirement upon Dickerson at the time he was charged but that the statute, as then written, was constitutionally unsound as applied to him.

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CONCLUSION
As a matter of statutory law, Dickerson was required to register as a sex offender under the terms of I.C. § 18-8304(1)(b). Because the statutory provision under which he was convicted was unconstitutional, however, Dickerson's conviction for failure to register must be reversed.6

The judgment of conviction entered by the district court is reversed.