AZ: Homeless registrants do not have to abide by the 72 hour reporting requirements.

A court in Arizona overturned the conviction and 7 year sentence of a man who was charged with failing to report his “new address” within 72 hours, stating that, “As a transient person would have neither an address nor a residence to report, it would seem implausible that the 72-hour requirement to report a new address or residence would apply… Indeed, if a cardboard box or a spot by a Dumpster is a ‘residence’ for purposes of the 72-hour reporting requirement, then ‘moving’ from it to another transient location would repeatedly trigger the reporting requirement, which would render the 90-day transient registration requirement largely pointless.”

Arizona, like Florida, has a requirement that transient (homeless) offenders report more frequently (in Arizona they are required to report every 90 days, in Florida every month).

The registrant, in this case, had been sitting in prison since 2014 for not registering his “new address” because he didn’t have one, he was homeless. In light of the current ruling, other transients who were convicted of not meeting the 72-hour registration deadline also could seek to have their convictions overturned and be released from prison.