United States v. Michael Fields
2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 2030
| 5th Cir. | 2015Background
- Michael Fields convicted in Wisconsin (1990) of sexual assault of a child; required lifetime sex-offender registration.
- Repeated failures to register in multiple states; multiple state convictions for failing to register.
- Arrested in April 2013 for failing to register; pleaded guilty in federal court (SORNA) in July 2013.
- Sentenced (Nov. 2013) to 27 months imprisonment and 10 years supervised release.
- Supervised-release condition at issue: may not "reside or go to places where a minor or minors are known to frequent without prior approval of the probation officer."
- Fields did not object below and appealed under plain-error review.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (Fields) | Defendant's Argument (Government) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether the supervised-release condition was reasonably related to statutory sentencing factors | Condition is overbroad and not sufficiently tied to the offense (failure to register) and remote prior sex offense | Condition is reasonably related to Fields’s sexual-offense history and repeated noncompliance with registration | Condition is reasonably related; no plain error affirmed |
| Whether the condition imposes a greater deprivation of liberty than reasonably necessary | Condition unduly restricts public movement (analogous to Windless) and is therefore excessive | Condition is narrower (limits places "known to frequent") and is modifiable/subject to probation approval | Condition not excessively broad; distinguishes Windless; no plain error |
| Whether any error would be "plain" under Puckett plain-error test | Error (if any) was clear and affected substantial rights | Circuit precedent and unpublished decisions show the issue is unsettled; error not clear | Even if error, not "clear or obvious"; plain-error relief denied |
| Constitutionality of SORNA under the Commerce Clause | SORNA exceeds Congress’s Commerce power (invoking Nat’l Fed.) | Circuit precedent upholds SORNA; no controlling Supreme Court overruling | Argument foreclosed by circuit precedent; claim rejected |
Key Cases Cited
- Puckett v. United States, 556 U.S. 129 (2009) (articulates four-part plain-error test)
- United States v. Windless, 719 F.3d 415 (5th Cir. 2013) (struck broad no-contact restrictions with minors as excessive)
- United States v. Weatherton, 567 F.3d 149 (5th Cir. 2009) (statutory factors for supervised-release conditions)
- United States v. Rodriguez, 558 F.3d 408 (5th Cir. 2009) (standard of review for supervised-release conditions)
- United States v. Whaley, 577 F.3d 254 (5th Cir. 2009) (upheld SORNA under Commerce Clause)