U.S. v. Thayer

Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing defendant’s indictment, alleging that defendant failed to comply with Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), where defendant, who had Minnesota conviction on charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for groping 14-year-old daughter, moved to Wisconsin and failed to register as sex offender. While Dist. Ct. based dismissal on finding that section 20911(5)(A)(ii) of SORNA was misaligned with defendant’s Minnesota conviction with respect to SORNA’s definition of “sex offense,” Ct. of Appeals found that Dist. Ct. erred in analyzing provisions of SORNA under categorical analysis, and that Dist. Ct. should have used circumstance-specific analysis, which requires Dist. Ct. to look to specific way in which defendant committed Minnesota crime to determine whether his Minnesota conviction qualifies as predicate offense for purposes of requiring defendant to register as sex offender under SORNA. (Dissent filed.)