United States v. Price

Defendant plead guilty to knowingly failing to register as a sex offender as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 18 U.S.C. 2250(a). The indictment alleged that defendant was subject to SORNA's registration requirement because of his prior South Carolina conviction for the common law offense of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. The court concluded that the Denial Order properly applied the "circumstance-specific approach" (the noncategorical approach) in deciding that defendant was subject to SORNA's registration required. However, the district court erred in ruling that defendant's conviction was for a sex offense under U.S.S.G. 5D1.2(b)(2). Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Price" on Justia Law