Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act

With much gratitude to our smart colleague down south in Wichita, David Freund offers this post:

On November 5th, the Tenth Circuit held that 18 USC § 2250(a)(2)(B), of the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act ( SORNA) applies only to persons who traveled in interstate commerce after July 27, 2006, the effective date of SORNA.

Mr. Husted was required to register as a sex offender in Illinois as a result of an conviction there. He subsequently moved to Oklahoma, where he was also required to register and did initially register. However, he allowed his Oklahoma registration to lapse and then subsequently moved to Missouri in April 2006 where he was not required to register. The District of Oklahoma indicted Mr. Husted for failing to properly "update and register as a sex offender" in Missouri after traveling in interstate commerce from Oklahoma as required by SORNA.

The section of SORNA at issue provides:
a) In general.—Whoever—
(1) is required to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
(2) . . .
(B) travels in interstate or foreign commerce, or enters or leaves, or resides in, Indian country; and
(3) knowingly fails to register or update a registration as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

Applying the principles of statutory construction, the Court found that Congress’s use in the statute of the verb "to travel" indicated that SORNA’s coverage is limited to those individuals who travel in interstate commerce after SORNA’s effective date. Since Mr. Husted’s travel was complete before the effective date of SORNA the Court reversed his convictions.
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