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Chestnut v. State

The State failed to satisfy its burden to prove that the homeless convicted sex offender had a street or route address that he failed to register.

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Rufus Chestnut was tried by a Coffee County jury and convicted of violating OCGA § 42-1-12, which required Chestnut, as a registered sex offender, to provide the Coffee County Sheriff’s office with 72 hours advance notice of any change in his residential address, with such notice to include the new address to which Chestnut was moving. Chestnut now appeals, arguing that under the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision in Santos v. State, 284 Ga. 514 668 SE2d 676 2008, the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction. For reasons explained more fully below, we agree with Chestnut and therefore reverse his conviction.

Although this case has a protracted procedural history, the relevant facts are undisputed and show that in November 2006, Chestnut was convicted of incest as a result of his relationship with an adult woman S. C., who was the legal daughter of Chestnut’s brother Larry Chestnut “Larry”.1 See Chestnut v. State, 287 Ga. App. 693 652 SE2d 596 2007. Upon being convicted of incest, Chestnut received a sentence of 10 years, with four years to be served in incarceration and the balance to be served on probation. As a result of Chestnut’s incest conviction, OCGA § 42-1-12 required him to register with the State as a sex offender prior to his release from prison and to register as a sex offender with his local law enforcement agency within 72 hours following his release. See OCGA § 42-1-12 10 a xii defining incest as a “dangerous sexual offense” and subjecting any person convicted of that crime to the registration requirements found in OCGA § 42-1-12; OCGA § 42-1-12 f 1, f 2.

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