| On September 28, 2000, 40-year-old Joseph Shelton was arrested on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender in Dallas County, Texas.
In March, 2001, Shelton went to trial in Dallas County Criminal District Court and chose to have his case heard by a judge without a jury. Shelton had been convicted in 1994 and 1998 of indecency with a child and sentenced to prison.
In his prerelease notification form, dated February 2000, Shelton stated that he expected his residence upon release to be 2316 Valley Falls, in Mesquite, Texas, where his parents lived. On August 8, 2000, Shelton signed a 90-day update to his registration information, again stating his address as 2316 Valley Falls.
Shelton was charged with failing to register as a sex offender “for a period greater than seven days,” stealing bank checks, and failing to report to his community supervision officer from April 2000 through August 2000. In 2001, Shelton was indicted. The indictment alleged that on September 8, 2000, Shelton did not report to law enforcement authorities to verify the information in the registration form at least once each ninety-day period following the date he first registered, failed to provide his anticipated move date and address, and failed to report to law enforcement authorities proof of his new residence.
George Pell, who lived next door to Shelton’s parents, testified that during July and August 2000, he saw Shelton “come and go” from his parents’ house. Pell said he saw Shelton outside his parents’ home in the mornings when Pell left for work and in the evenings when Pell returned home. Pell conceded that he was away on business for two to three nights every month, and although he did not keep a log of Shelton’s activities, Pell said he saw Shelton at the home no more than 10 or 12 days in July.
Pell said he could tell when Shelton was not home because his car was not in the driveway. Pell believed Shelton visited his parents, but did not live with them.
The prosecution presented a receipt from the Big Town Inn showing that Shelton had paid for a single-occupancy room for seven nights from August 25, 2000 to September 1, 2000. When registering at the motel, Shelton had listed his address as 2316 Valley Falls.
Police officer David Ward testified that he had first explained Shelton’s responsibilities as a registrant sometime in the summer of 1998 after Shelton initially registered as a sex offender. Ward said that on February 2, 2000, he explained the prerelease notification form to Shelton and explained that he had to meet the verification requirement every ninety days. Ward said he told Shelton that should Shelton reside or intend to reside for more than seven days anywhere other than 2316 Valley Falls, he would have to notify Ward seven days before making a change. Ward also told Shelton that if he changed his residence for more than seven days, he would have to register with the agency in that new location within seven days after changing residences.
According to Ward, Shelton never verified any of the information on his prerelease notification form, but did update his registration form on August 8, 2000. In that update, Shelton did not report that he was changing residences. Sometime after August 8, Ward learned that Shelton had been arrested for stealing bank checks. The arresting officer informed Ward that Shelton no longer lived at 2316 Valley Falls and was living at the Big Town Inn.
Ward said he obtained the receipt from the Big Town Inn, and he also talked to Pell. Ward said Pell told him that Shelton had not lived at the Valley Falls address for some time and “would come in for a day or two occasionally and then be gone for weeks at a time.”
Shelton’s mother testified for the defense that Shelton had been intermittently hospitalized in the summer of 2000. During those nights in the hospital, she said she called Ward and told him where Shelton was. She said Shelton booked rooms at the motel because she would not allow him to bring women home. She said he never stayed longer than five nights at the motel. In her opinion, her son never moved out of her house.
Shelton testified that he completed the pre-release notification form on February 2, 2000 and reported and verified his address on August 8, 2000. He denied living anywhere but with his parents.
On March 8, 2001, the trial court found Shelton guilty of failure to register as a sex offender.
Shelton was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $1,500.
Shelton appealed. On April 14, 2003, the Texas Court of Appeals for the Fifth District, reversed the conviction and ordered the case dismissed.
“The State neither challenged appellant’s mother's testimony that she reported to Ward about appellant’s hospital stays nor presented any evidence that Pell’s account of appellant’s absence from his parents’ home “for weeks at a time” was other than his time spent in the hospital,” the court declared. “Nor did the State present any evidence that appellant stayed or intended to stay at the motel more than seven days. On these facts…we conclude the State’ evidence was legally insufficient.”
Shelton was released from prison on July 21, 2003. He subsequently applied for compensation from the State of Texas. On November 25, 2003, the Texas Comptroller’s Judiciary Section declared Shelton eligible for an award of $6,250 plus an annuity of $54,576.
– Maurice Possley
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