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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF IDAHO Docket No. 37175 STATE OF IDAHO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PHILLIP DAVID HELMUTH, Defendant-Respondent. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

2010 Opinion No. 71 Filed: November 3, 2010 Stephen W. Kenyon, Clerk

Appeal from the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District, State of Idaho, Ada County. Hon. Darla S. Williamson, District Judge. Order dismissing charge of failure to register as a sex offender, reversed, and case remanded. Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Elizabeth A. Koeckeritz, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for appellant. Molly J. Huskey, State Appellate Public Defender; Justin M. Curtis, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for respondent. ________________________________________________ LANSING, Chief Judge Phillip David Helmuth was charged with failing to register as a sex offender on an allegation that he did not timely notify the Ada County Sheriff of his change of address in violation of Idaho statutes requiring the registration of sex offenders. On Helmuth's motion, the district court dismissed the charge based on a conclusion that Helmuth was not required to register by terms of the Idaho statutes. The State appeals from the order of dismissal. I. BACKGROUND In May 1992, Helmuth was convicted of two counts of the felony crime of sexual battery in the state of Ohio. He was sentenced to eighteen months of imprisonment on those charges, and he apparently completed service of that sentence in mid-August 1993. So far as revealed by the record here, he did not have any duty to register as a sex offender in the state of Ohio.

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Helmuth moved to Idaho in 1999, and initially registered as a sex offender in August 2000 because, he asserts, a law enforcement official told him that he was required to register. In July 2009, Helmuth was charged in Ada County with failure to register as a sex offender under Idaho's Sexual Offender Registration Act, I.C.

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Idaho Law