4th DCA overturns conviction for failure to register
In a decision handed down by Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal, the Fourteen (14) YEAR sentence of a person required to register for a Failure to Register charge was overturned after the state could not prove he failed to register within 48 hours of “establishing a residence”
The appellant was released from prison in February of 2015. A couple months later he was picked up in Broward and charged with failure to report within 48 hours of establishing a permanent, temporary or transient residence in Broward and also for failing to update his drivers license. He challenged the charges, stating that the State could not prove their case – that he “established a residence” in Broward and failed to report it. Nonetheless he was convicted and sentenced to a very harsh 14.8 years in prison. He appealed.
The FDLE’s only witness was an employee who received a tip that he had not registered and a supermarket surveillance video that showed him, on some date, in Broward.
The appellate court held that wasn’t sufficient. The State did not prove that he established a residence (permanent, temporary, or transient) in Broward (ie: same place 3 or more days in the aggregate during the calendar year) such that he violated the law. The state didn’t meet it’s burden. The law doesn’t say you have to register in a county within 48 hours – it says you need to register within 48 hours of establishing a permanent, temporary or transient residence.
Kudos to the appellant for challenging his case and not taking a quick plea. Congrats to Carey Haughwout, Palm Beach County Public Defender, for taking on the appeal!!! The opinion appears below:
Demus v State – 48 hours to register
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this is all about money. If they can get you on there state
registry then they get extra federal funding. they do this
by using life time registry even if your dead or moved out of state.
I mover out of florida but I am steel on the florida registry. knowing
the average rso cant fight the state we don’t have the money to
defend ourselves. so I plead to a probation deal my public defender told me he had 50 case’s in front of me and not to expect anything
from him. so I took probation. not know this was life.
So I drive to Florida for family vacation. I stay in one city for 2 nights, another city for 2 nights and the last city for one night and i drive home.
First off, how does anyone in florida know I’m there if I do nothing wrong?
And am I in violation I break my vacation up like in the example given??
Whether we agree with the laws or not, FAC encourages all to comply with them. The purpose of this forum is not to find ways to skirt the rules.
To answer your question, “how does anyone in florida know I’m there if I do nothing wrong?” more specifically… the same way they would know if you do anything illegal. You somehow get caught. In Florida, failure to register is a third degree felony. Stealing a car (Fla. Stat. §812.014) is also a third degree felony in Florida. If you steal a car and don’t get caught doing it, it doesn’t mean you have not committed a crime.
In the illustration you’ve given you have not established a temporary, permanent or transient residence in Florida. Can’t speak for the laws in your home state or any other jurisdiction.
All it takes is for you to get stopped or for someone to call in a complaint and you’re probably toast. You COULD possibly skate on it if you had a valid reason for being there…such as you’re just passing through and came to see a sick and dying relative for one day…but you may have to prove it.
The jurors in the trial all must have been on weed to come to the verdict they did, either that or they were intentionally biased against the defendant. God help the poor souls who thought it justified to take someone’s liberty over a grocery trip in someone else’s county.
Our justice system is broken it seems, not because the framers of the system were in error, but because of those who presently wield it. Our founders would be rightly worried for the future of this republic if they were with us today.
” The law doesn’t say you have to register in a county within 48 hours – it says you need to register within 48 hours of establishing a permanent, temporary or transient residence.”
This is absolutely HUGE. Its says legislative intent through statutory construction has meaning. It telegraphs to litigants to be creative in formulating future arguments.