DENNIS
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
A sexual offender cannot be convicted of failing to report a change of residence or vacating a residence without establishing another unless the State proves the offender first established a permanent, temporary, or transient residence as defined by statute.
[1] A sexual offender's conviction for failure to report a change of residence or failure to report after vacating a residence requires proof that the offender first establis…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Unlike subsection (4)(a), which required sex offenders to report [to the driver's license office] after "any change" in their permanent, temporary, or transient residence, subsection (4)(b) applied only when an offender left one residence without establishing a new one”
Court explaining the distinction between the two statutory offenses charged
Dennis, a registered sex offender, registered an address in May 2022 where renters had lived since 2019 and where Dennis had never resided. The State …
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Sexual Offender Registration Requirements cases and more on FLexlaw
FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
_____________________________
No. 1D2023-0886 _____________________________
JAMES ERIC DENNIS,
Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee. _____________________________
On appeal from the Circuit Court for Escambia County. Linda Lee Nobles, Judge.
August 7, 2024
B.L. THOMAS, J.
James Dennis appeals his judgment and sentence arguing there was insufficient evidence to sustain his convictions on counts 1 and 2 under sections 943.0435(4)(b)1 and (4)(a), Fla. Stat. (2022) and that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on an essential element of count3 under section 944.607(13)(c)(4). We affirm his conviction on count3, providing false registration information as a sexual offender, without comment. But we reverse his convictions on count 1, failure of a sexual offender who vacates a permanent, temporary, or transient residence to report within 48 hours, and count 2, failure of a sexual offender to report or register a change in permanent or temporary address.
2 At trial, Dennis stipulated to being a sex offender. The State then presented evidence that Dennis registered an address in May of 2022, but that renters had lived at that address since 2019, and Dennis had never lived with them. Count 1 charged Dennis with violating section 943.0435(4)(b)1, which states: A sexual offender who vacates a permanent, temporary, or transient residence and fails to establish or maintain another permanent, temporary, or transient residence shall, within 48 hours after vacating the permanent, temporary, or transient residence, report in person to the sheriff's office of the county in which he or she is located. Count 2 charged Dennis with violating section 943.0435(4)(a), which requires a sexual offender to report in person “any change” in the offender’s “permanent, temporary, or transient residence” to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles within 48 hours. § 943.0435(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (2022). Under both subsections, a prerequisite to finding a violation— for failing to establish or maintain a residence or failing to report a change in residences—is that the sexual offender establish one of the three types of statutorily-defined residences in the first place. This Court has explained the difference between the two offenses. “Unlike subsection (4)(a), which required sex offenders to report [to the driver’s license office] after “any change” in their permanent, temporary, or transient residence, subsection (4)(b) applied only when an offender left one residence without establishing a new one: ‘A sexual offender who vacates a permanent, temporary, or transient residence and fails to establish or maintain another permanent, temporary, or transient residence’ must report to the sheriff's office.” Peterson v. State, 198 So. 3d 1064, 1065–66 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016) (emphasis in original). In Peterson, “the State did not prove that
ROBERTS and ROWE, JJ., concur. _____________________________
Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331. _____________________________
Jessica J. Yeary, Public Defender, and Tyler Kemper Payne, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Miranda L. Butson, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.