Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-15-03086/USCOURTS-ca8-15-03086-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Steven A. Smith
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eighth Circuit

___________________________

No. 15-3086

___________________________

United States of America,

lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

Steven A. Smith,

lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant.

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Appeal from United States District Court 

for the Western District of Arkansas - Fayetteville

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 Submitted: April 11, 2016

 Filed: May 13, 2016

[Unpublished]

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Before COLLOTON, ARNOLD, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.

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PER CURIAM.

Steven Smith was convicted in Minnesota in 2007 of criminal sexual conduct

in the second degree. Under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act

(“SORNA”), Smith was required to register as a sex offender before his release from

prison and to update his registration within three days after any change of residence. 

42 U.S.C. § 16913. Smith initially registered at an address in Anoka County,

Appellate Case: 15-3086 Page: 1 Date Filed: 05/13/2016 Entry ID: 4398552 
Minnesota, but law enforcement later discovered Smith living in Rogers, Arkansas,

without having updated his registration.

A grand jury charged Smith with failure to update his sex-offender registration,

in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a). Smith moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing

that SORNA is unconstitutional. After the district court denied the motion to *

dismiss, Smith entered a conditional plea of guilty, preserving his right to appeal the

denial of his motion to dismiss. The district court accepted Smith’s plea and

sentenced himto twenty-four months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Smith contendsthat

SORNA exceeds the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause. We review de

novo the denial of a motion to dismiss an indictment. United States v. Janis, 810 F.3d

595, 597 (8th Cir. 2016).

SORNA requires individuals convicted of certain sex offenses to maintain upto-date registration with state governments for inclusion on state and federal sexoffender registries. 42 U.S.C. § 16913. Covered persons are required to register

before their release from custody (or after sentencing, if their sentence does not

include a term of incarceration), and must update their information within three days

of any change of name, residence, employment, or student status. Id. Any person

required to register under § 16913 who travelsin interstate commerce and knowingly

fails to update his registration faces criminal penalties of up to ten years’

imprisonment. 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a).

Smith argues that both the registration requirement and the criminal penalties

for failure to register exceed Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause, U.S.

Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3. Smith concedes, however, that circuit precedent forecloses

this argument. In United States v. May, 535 F.3d 912, 921-22 (8th Cir. 2008), this

The Honorable Timothy L. Brooks, United States District Judge for the

*

Western District of Arkansas.

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court held that SORNA’s criminal penalties are a valid exercise of the Commerce

Clause, because § 2250(a)(2)(B) requires the government to prove that the defendant

traveled in interstate commerce. The court also held in United States v. Howell, 552

F.3d 709 (8th Cir. 2009), that the registration requirement is a necessary and proper

means of “track[ing] the interstate movement ofsex offenders.” Id. at 715-17. Smith

argues that National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 132 S. Ct. 2566

(2012), called May and Howell into question, but this court rejected an identical

argument in United States v. Anderson, 771 F.3d 1064, 1067-71 (8th Cir. 2014). 

Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s denial of the motion to dismiss the

indictment.

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