Georgia's sex-offender registry law should be struck down as unconstitutional because it makes being homeless a crime, a lawyer told the state's highest court on Monday.

"The law is fundamentally unfair to homeless sex offenders," public defender Adam Levin argued to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Levin represents William James Santos, a who is charged in Hall County for failing to register a new address in the sex-offender registry. Because this would be his second failure-to-register offense, Santos faces a mandatory life sentence.

The law requires sex offenders to provide a route or street address, and it specifically states that an offender cannot use "homeless" as an address. Santos couldn't abide by the law because he could not give an address, Levin said.

In July 2006, Santos was ordered to leave the Good News at Noon homeless shelter in Gainesville. For the next three months, he was homeless until he was arrested in August and charged with the offense.

Hall County Assistant District Attorney Vanessa Sykes urged the state Supreme Court to uphold the law and allow Santos' prosecution to go forward.

"He is not being charged with being homeless," Sykes said. "He is charged with not registering as a sex offender."