High court sides with sex offender in dispute over registry

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously recently that a convicted sex offender did not have to update his status on the federal sex offender registry after moving to a foreign country.

The justices sided with Lester Nichols, a Kansas man who moved to the Philippines in 2012 after his release from prison without telling authorities.

Nichols was arrested in Manila and brought back to the U.S., where he was convicted of failing to update his sex-offender registration. A federal appeals court upheld his conviction, but the Supreme Court reversed that.

Writing for the court, Justice Samuel Alito said a straightforward reading of the 2006 Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act does not require registry updates after a sex offender moves out of the United States.