Beasley: SORNA Criminalizes Non-Registration Only After Travel

In U.S. v. Beasley, No. 09-11528 (March 28, 2011), on remand from the United States Supreme Court, the Court vacated a conviction of a defendant convicted of failing to register as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. The Court noted that the Supreme Court’s decision in Carr v. U.S. held that a defendant only violates SORNA registration requirements if, after becoming subject to the registration requirements, he thereafter travels, and then fails to register. Carr’s holding reversed the Eleventh Circuit’s dedision U.S. v. Dumont, to the extent Dumont suggested that the registration elements do not have to be met in sequence. Here, Beasley traveled in interstate commerce before SORNA became applicable to him. Beasley therefore did not violate SORNA’s registration requirements.