Appellant William Santos, a convicted sexual offender, appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion to quash an indictment charging him with failure to register a new residence address as required under OCGA §Georgia’s sex offender registration law. He contends OCGA § 42-1-12 is unconstitutional on numerous grounds, including that the statute’s registration requirements are unconstitutionally vague in their application to the homeless. After reviewing the challenged language of the statute, we agree that OCGA § 42-1-12 does not give homeless sexual offenders without a residence address fair notice of how they can comply with the statute’s registration requirement, and therefore, we reverse. 1. The Due Process Clause requires that the law give a person of ordinary intelligence fair warning that specific conduct is forbidden or mandated. United States v. Harriss , 347 U.S. 612, 617 74 SC 808, 98 LE 989 1954; Hall v. State , 268 Ga. 89, 92 485 SE2d 755 1997. Vagueness may invalidate a criminal law on either of two bases: a statute may fail to provide notice sufficient to enable ordinary people to understand what conduct it prohibits or requires, or the statute may authorize and encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. City of Chicago v. Morales , 527 U.S. 41, 55 119 SC 1849, 144 LE2d 67 1999; Roemhild v. State , 251 Ga. 569 2 308 SE2d 154 1983. Vagueness challenges to criminal statutes that do not implicate First Amendment freedoms must be examined in the light of the facts of the case to be decided. United States v. Mazurie , 419 U.544, 550 95 SC 710, 42 LE2d 706 1975; Thelen v. State , 272 Ga. 81 526 SE2d 60 2000.
OCGA § 42-1-12 requires convicted sexual offenders to register with the sheriff of the county in which they reside and to maintain with the sheriff certain required registration information, including the address of the sexual offender’s residence. OCGA § 42-1-12 a 16; OCGA § 42-1-12 f 2 and 3. Sexual offenders must update the required registration information within 72 hours of any change. However, if the information is the sexual offender’s new residence address, the sexual offender must give the required information to the sheriff of the county with whom the sexual offender last registered within 72 hours prior to any change of residence address and to the sheriff of the county to which the sexual offender is moving within 72 hours after establishing the new residence. OCGA § 41-1-12 f 5. OCGA § 42-1-12 a 1 defines the term “address” as “the street or route address of the sexual offender’s residence” and specifically states that for purposes of the Code section, “the term does not mean a post office box, and homeless does not constitute an address.”
