High court to hear appeal over sex offender registration

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will decide whether convicted sex offenders must update their status on the federal sex offender registry after moving to a foreign country.

The justices recently agreed to resolve a split among lower courts that reached different outcomes in the cases of two men — one who lived in Kansas City, Kansas, and another who lived in Kansas City, Missouri.

The court will hear an appeal from Lester Nichols, a Kansas man who moved to the Philippines after his release from prison in 2012 without updating his registration. A federal appeals court in Denver upheld his conviction for violating the law.

But a federal appeals court in St. Louis said a convicted sex offender from Missouri did not have to register after he also moved to the Philippines.