United States v. Brown, No. 12-3952 (3d Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseIt is a violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 42 U.S.C. 16901, for individuals convicted of certain sex crimes to travel in interstate or foreign commerce and knowingly fail to register, 18 U.S.C. 2250(a). A conviction involving sex will not lead to classification as an offender under SORNA if “ [a]n offense involving consensual sexual conduct is not a sex offense for the purposes of [SORNA] ... if the victim was at least 13 years old and the offender was not more than 4 years older than the victim,” 42 U.S.C. 16911(5)(C). Brown was charged with failing to register under SORNA based on his conviction for third degree lewd molestation in Florida. He registered when he moved to New York, but failed to register when he later moved to Pennsylvania. Brown pled guilty, but the district court sua sponte expressed doubt that Brown was a “sex offender,” given that his Presentence Investigation Report indicated he was 17 years old and his victim was 13 years old at the time they engaged in the consensual sex that was the basis of the conviction. Citing “the interests of justice” the court withdrew its approval of Brown’s plea. The Third Circuit ordered the indictment reinstated, noting that Brown stipulated that he was more than 4 years older than his victim at the time of the offense.
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