By AP
LANSING, MI – A Michigan court will consider whether a homeless Lansing sex offender can be punished for not registering an address with law enforcement.
61-year-old Randall Dowdy was told he could no longer stay at a Lansing shelter because he was a convicted sex offender.
Dowdy didn't give law enforcement a new address when he left the shelter in 2006 or check in once every three months. So prosecutors charged him with a felony and three misdemeanors.
Michigan law requires sex offenders to register a change of address within 10 days of moving.
A trial judge dismissed the charges because the transient Dowdy stays in abandoned buildings, parks and shelters.
A divided Michigan Supreme Court released an order Friday telling the Court of Appeals to hear the case.