In Re Watford

Petitioner Warren Granard Watford petitions for a writ of habeas corpus directing the Placer County Superior Court to vacate its judgment of conviction for failing to register as a sex offender because the predicate sex offense has been vacated and will not be retried. Petitioner asserts the predicate offense is now void ab initio, and thus he was never required to register and cannot be held for failing to register.

We disagree and deny the petition.

FACTS

In 1986, petitioner was convicted in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, of a sex offense involving a minor.

Nearly 22 years later, on February 6, 2008, petitioner was arrested in Lincoln, California, and charged with failing to register as a sex offender as required under Penal Code sections 290 and 290.005. The evidence at trial indicated petitioner had arrived in California from Massachusetts in December 2007, and he had not registered with local authorities since his arrival.

In April 2008, a Placer County jury convicted petitioner of failing to register as a sex offender. The trial court also found true an allegation that petitioner was convicted of armed robbery in Massachusetts in 1992, a serious felony for…