ATLANTA – The attorney for a former Rome police officer, now serving time in prison, said his client has been caught in a “loophole.”

At issue is whether or not Paul Wiggins Jr. should have to register, even though he was not convicted of a crime specifically defined as a sexual offense.

Arguments were presented to the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday afternoon.

Wiggins was convicted in 2003 of cruelty to children and violating his oath of office in relation to an incident in which he had sex with a 16-year-old girl on his patrol car.

He was acquitted of rape, sodomy, sexual battery and false imprisonment.

Wiggins and other officers were dispatched to the Holiday Inn Skytop on reports of possible underage drinking. Six people, including the victim, were partying and Wiggins vouched for the girl then met her at another location. He initially denied having sex with her, but later said it was consensual — an assertion District Attorney Leigh Patterson told the court she “adamantly” opposed.

Wiggins was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison and register as a sexual offender upon his release.

Patterson argued the offense was, by nature, a sexual offense, and as it included sex with a minor the sentencing judge was correct in requiring that Wiggins register.

Wiggins’ attorney, Mark Yurachek, said the law is “unconstitutionally vague” and leaves anyone convicted of a crime open to being required to register as a sexual offender.

“(Wiggins) is not charged by a sexual offense under the code,” Wiggins’ lawyer Mark Yurachek said.

Wiggins was caught in a “loophole,” his lawyer argued. The victim was old enough to be of the age of sexual consent but still young enough to still be considered as a minor.

By way of this loophole, state law did not provide a “fair warning” that Wiggins could be considered a sexual predator, Yurachek told the justices.

He also argued that Georgia law has a basic flaw by not designating a specific entity or agency as having the ability to define someone as a sexual offender.

As it stands, a person convicted of any crime could be required to register as a sexual offender if directed by the presiding judge, their probation officer or community’s Sheriff, he said.

There was some question as to whether or not the high court had already previously ruled upon much of Wiggins’ argument.

If the matters have already been considered and ruled upon, the court will likely not consider them. Justices asked Yurachek several times whether or not issues in his argument had been brought up in previous appeals, to which he provided no definite answer.

In 2007, Wiggins filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus — a civil proceeding which gives convicted prisoners another chance to challenge their conviction — but was denied. He then tried to appeal that ruling to state Supreme Court, which also denied his petition.