On September 30, 1993, following a trial in the Superior Court of DeKalb County but before the jury reached a verdict, Eric Jefferson pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with intent to rape an adult female; the incident had occurred on July 9, 1992. He was sentenced to five years to serve with credit for time served. He was not required to register in Georgia as a sex offender at the time. In fact, the sex offender registration statute did not become law until 1996. See Ga. L. 1996, p. 1520, § 1. When passed, it required prisoners who had previously been convicted of a “sexually violent offense” or “an offense that has as its element engaging in physical contact with another person with intent to commit such an offense,” who were released from prison on or after July 1, 1996, to register. Id. Jefferson was released from prison in 1997 but did not register. He asserts that he was never told to do so until recently, when the State took out a warrant for his arrest for failing to register. He now resides in Louisiana. On April 20, 2010, Jefferson petitioned the Superior Court of DeKalb County to be relieved of the requirements of OCGA § 42-1-12 et seq. on the ground that aggravated assault with intent to rape was not listed in the statute as a “sexually violent offense” until 2005. See Ga. L. 2005, p. 453, § 1. See also OCGA § 42-1-12 a 10 A i. Jefferson also asserted that he is not a “sexual predator” as defined in the statute and that the evidence presented at trial did not show that he had been physically violent with the victim.
On May 11, 2010, the superior court denied the petition. The court construed Jefferson’s petition as “a motion for determination of whether he must register as a sex offender,” and it reasoned that whether a person is required to register is controlled by OCGA § 42-1-12, not by the sentencing court. The court also reasoned that registration as a sex offender is controlled by the state of residence not the convicting court. The court cited OCGA § 42-1-12 g for the proposition that Jefferson should petition the court in the county in which he resides.
