In U.S. v. Pilati, No. 09-11978 (Dec. 17, 2010), the Court held that an Alabama District Attorney defendant convicted of depriving persons of their civil rights, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242, by fondling genetalia during searches, including a search of a minor, could be required to register as a sex offender under SORNA.
The Court first noted that because Pilati had consented to trial by jury presided over by a Magistrate Judge, after the jury convicted he waived all issues that he did not appeal to the district court pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3402.
With regard to the SORNA registration issue, the Court noted that the SORNA registration requirement applied based on the nature of the conduct underlying an offense, not based on whether the statute of conviction was a civil rights violation or a sex offense. Here, the unobjected-to facts were that Pilati’s conduct involved a sex offense against a minor. SORNA registration could therefore be required.
