Opinion ID: 897570
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Register as Sex Offender

Text: [¶17] Igou was also charged and convicted of failing to register as a sex offender, a class A misdemeanor, in violation of N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-15, which provides in relevant part: 7. . . . If an individual required to register pursuant to this section has a change in name, school, or address, that individual shall inform in writing, within ten days, the law enforcement agency with whom that individual last registered of the individual's new name, school, residence address, or employment address. The trial court instructed the jury on the following essential elements of this offense: COUNT III: Failure to Register as a Sex Offender 1. Some time between April 1, 2003, and June 11, 2003, in Burleigh County, North Dakota, the defendant, Orvin Igou III, relocated to a new address in Bismarck, North Dakota; 2. That Orvin Igou III was a person required to register as a sexual offender; 3. That within 10 days of relocation by the defendant; 4. He willfully failed to register with local Bismarck authorities. Igou asserts the only element the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt was the final element that Igou willfully failed to register with local Bismarck authorities. Igou testified that he mailed a letter to the Bismarck Police Department about his change of address in Bismarck. However, Jean Leuwer, the supervisor of records for the Bismarck Police Department testified that although the department would accept a handwritten notification of a sex offender's change of address, there are no records on file that the department ever received such a letter from Igou or that Igou otherwise attempted to notify the department of his change of address. [¶18] It is the exclusive function of the jury to weigh the evidence and judge the credibility of witnesses, and we will not substitute our judgment for that of the jury where the evidence is conflicting, if one of the conflicting inferences reasonably tends to prove guilt and fairly warrants a conviction. State v. Schill, 406 N.W.2d 660, 661 (N.D. 1987). Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude the jury could reasonably have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Igou willfully failed to register as a sex offender in violation of N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-15.