Court Reverses Sex Offender's Conviction

ATLANTA - A federal appeals panel has reversed the conviction of a man who failed to register as a sex offender when he moved to Georgia from Mississippi because it came before a new federal law took effect.

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision on Monday found that Jimmy Joel Beasley should not have been charged with failing to register as a sex offender in Georgia.

Beasley was convicted in Mississippi of a state sex offense in 1985 and he maintained his state registration through 2006. When he moved to Georgia in January 2007, he failed to register.

But the court concluded that the move occurred before a February 2007 Attorney General's opinion that would have made the registration requirements applicable to him.