MS- Court: Pastor stays on registry

5-23-2008 Mississippi:

The Rev. Jeffery Stallworth's name will remain on Mississippi's sex-offender registry.

The Mississippi Supreme Court, in a 5-3 ruling Thursday, upheld the decision by a Hinds County judge.

Stallworth contended that his misdemeanor, fourth-degree sex conviction and sentence were removed by a judge and the crime he pleaded guilty to in Maryland would not require a person to register as a sex offender in Mississippi.

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 Anderson United Methodist Church, pleaded guilty in 2002 to sexually assaulting a woman during a 2001 stay at her Maryland home.

Stallworth said with his conviction and sentence removed in Maryland in 2005, there was no reason for him to register as a sex offender in Mississippi.

Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter ruled in 2006 that while a misdemeanor did not require registration as a sex offender in Maryland that "upon returning to Mississippi, Stallworth was required to register here as a sex offender." ..more.. by ClarionLedge.com