Opinion ID: 2095176
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: W.B.'s Challenge to His Classification by CSOSA

Text: In 1969, W.B. was convicted of sodomy with a thirteen-year-old boy in violation of former D.C.Code § 22-3502(a). After his conviction was reversed on appeal in United States v. Bennett, 148 U.S.App. D.C. 364, 460 F.2d 872 (1972), W.B. was retried for the offense in 1973 and adjudicated not guilty by reason of insanity. Sodomy on a minor is a registration offense under SORA, and if it involved the use of force, it is a lifetime registration offense. See D.C.Code § 22-4001(6)(A), (8)(B). In 2001, CSOSA determined that W.B.'s thirty-three-year-old sodomy offense was forcible and that he therefore was a Class A offender who would have to register for life (rather than a Class B offender who would have to register for ten years). See D.C.Code § 22-4011(b)(2)(A). Although W.B.'s 1973 judgment was silent as to whether he used force to commit his crime (force not being an element of the offense of sodomy as statutorily defined), and CSOSA had been unable to obtain a description of the offense conduct because of the age of the case, CSOSA based its finding on a statement in the D.C. Circuit's opinion in Bennett, supra . [27] The opinion quoted W.B.'s brief on appeal as arguing that his insanity defense had been prejudiced by the jury's exposure to the unpleasant details of the shocking sexual assault on a 13-year-old boy with which W.B. had been charged. Id., 148 U.S.App. D.C. at 370, 460 F.2d at 878. While the opinion did not state what those unpleasant details were, CSOSA construed the quoted statement as an admission by W.B.'s counsel that his offense involved the use of force. Pursuant to D.C.Code § 22-4004, W.B. sought judicial review of CSOSA's classification determination in Superior Court. In support of his motion, W.B. submitted an affidavit in which he averred that his sodomy offense did not involve force. The offense occurred, according to the affidavit, after he had been drinking and had become intoxicated. W.B. requested a hearing at which CSOSA would have the burden of proving that he used force. Opposing that request, the government proffered a 1968 police report that purported to recount the victim's claim that W.B. had grabbed him by his arm (i.e., employed force) when he initially refused W.B.'s advances. The government also submitted the D.C. Circuit's opinion in Bennett on which CSOSA had relied. The Superior Court denied W.B.'s motion without a hearing. Allocating the burden of persuasion by a preponderance of the evidence to W.B. rather than to CSOSA, the judge ruled that no hearing was necessary because W.B. cannot meet that burden on the record before the court. [28] Accordingly, without specifically finding that W.B.'s sodomy was forcible, the judge certified W.B. as a Class A offender required to register with CSOSA for life. See D.C.Code § 22-4003(d)(4) (The Court is required to enter an order certifying that a person is a sex offender [when a] motion is filed as authorized under § 22-4004 and the Court denies the motion.). [29]