JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — The Rev. Jeffery A. Stallworth is again arguing to the Mississippi Supreme Court that he couldn’t have to register as a sex offender after his criminal record was expunged in Maryland.
The Supreme Court threw out similar arguments in 2008. The court will now hear oral arguments on Stallworth’s new appeal on Dec. 1 in Jackson.
Sex offenders are required under Mississippi law to register with the local sheriff’s department and have a special identification card issued by the Highway Patrol.
Stallworth, then-pastor of Jackson’s Anderson United Methodist Church, pleaded guilty in 2002 to a misdemeanor charge of sexually assaulting a woman during a 2001 stay at her Maryland home. He received a suspended sentence.
Stallworth argues his conviction and sentence were expunged by a Maryland judge in 2010. He petitioned the Hinds County Circuit Court to lift the requirement he register as a sex offender in Mississippi. A judge ruled against him in 2013.
In his appeal, Stallworth said his conviction no longer exists so he no longer has to register.
The attorney general’s office said Stallworth was arguing that an expungement is the same thing as having a conviction set aside under Maryland law but that is not how it works in Mississippi.
The attorney general’s office said when Stallworth first appeal was denied in 2008 the conviction still existed in Maryland and Mississippi law allows such convictions to be used to support a requirement that Stallworth register as a sex offender.
