United States v. DeJarnette, No. 11-10606 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseDefendant, a federal sex offender, appealed his conviction under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq., for failing to register. The court held that the Attorney General has not validly specified that 42 U.S.C. 16913(a)'s requirement of initial registration in the jurisdiction of the sex-offense conviction applied to offenders like defendant - offenders who were, at the time of SORNA's enactment and implementation, already subject to sex-offender registration obligations under a pre-SORNA scheme. The court concluded that the jury instructions contained an error of law in that they permitted the jury to convict solely on the basis of defendant's failure to register in the jurisdiction of his sex offense conviction and the error was harmful. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded for a judgment of acquittal.
Court Description: Criminal Law. The panel reversed a judgment of conviction for failure to register as a sex offender in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, and remanded for entry of a judgment of acquittal. The panel held that the Attorney General has not yet “validly specifie[d]” that 42 U.S.C. § 16913(a)’s requirement of registration in the jurisdiction of the sex-offense conviction (if different from the jurisdiction of residence) applies to pre- Act offenders like the defendant who were, at the time of SORNA’s enactment and implementation, already subject to sex offender registration obligations. The panel concluded that the district court’s jury instruction erroneously permitting the jury to convict solely on the basis of the defendant’s failure to register in the jurisdiction of his sex-offense conviction was not harmless. Dissenting, Judge Graber wrote that the Attorney General’s regulations validly specify that SORNA’s registration requirements apply to all sex offenders, including pre-SORNA offenders; that the defendant was notified of his initial registration requirement in the jurisdiction of his sex- offense conviction; and that the jury was properly instructed.
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