United States v. White

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Defendant-appellant James White was a convicted sex offender who failed to keep his registration current after he moved from Oklahoma to Texas. He entered a conditional guilty plea admitting to violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), but reserved five issues for appeal. Three were challenges to his conviction on the grounds that SORNA violated the Commerce Clause, the Tenth Amendment, and the Ex Post Facto Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Then defendant attacked his sentence, claiming the district court erred: (1) by calculating his Sentencing Guidelines range as if he were a tier III sex offender; and (2) by imposing special conditions of supervised release limiting his contact with his minor grandchildren and nieces. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit held that SORNA was the product of a valid exercise of Congress’s Commerce Clause power, and that it did not violate the Tenth Amendment or the Ex Post Facto Clause. But the Court concluded the district court erred in classifying defendant as a tier III sex offender and vacated defendant's sentence and conditions of supervised release. Defendant's conviction was affirmed but the case remanded to the district court for resentencing. View "United States v. White" on Justia Law