931 F.3d 576
7th Cir.2019Background
- Richard Walker pleaded guilty in Colorado (1998) to sexual contact with a child under 15 who was at least four years younger than him; he served time and was subject to SORNA registration.
- SORNA establishes three tiers of registration: Tier I (15 years), Tier II (25 years), Tier III (life), keyed to federal sex-offense categories in 18 U.S.C. § 2244 and victim age qualifiers.
- Walker was indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a) for failing to register from June 2016 to July 2017 and moved to dismiss, arguing his Colorado conviction only triggered Tier I (15-year) registration, which had expired.
- The district court denied dismissal, treated Walker as at least Tier II, and at sentencing classified him as Tier III after considering the actual victim ages (4 and 6); Walker pleaded guilty conditionally to preserve appeal on tier classification.
- The Seventh Circuit conducted a hybrid analysis (categorical for elements; circumstance-specific for victim age), held the Colorado statute is not a categorical match to the federal "abusive sexual contact" offenses listed in § 2244, and therefore Walker is a Tier I offender; his conviction and sentence were vacated.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether Walker's 1998 Colorado conviction qualifies as Tier II/III under SORNA (i.e., is it categorically comparable to abusive sexual contact in 18 U.S.C. § 2244, and then, if so, does victim age make it Tier III?) | Walker: Colorado statute is broader than the federal offenses in § 2244 and thus does not categorically match; so he is Tier I and not required to register in the charged period. | Government: Court may look to the actual victim ages (4 and 6) to satisfy SORNA's age qualifiers and to treat the conviction as matching § 2244 (including § 2241(c) re: victims under 12), producing Tier III classification. | The court applied a hybrid approach: categorical comparison of statutory elements first (no element-level match between the Colorado statute and the § 2244 offenses), then circumstance-specific age inquiry only if there is a categorical match. Because Colorado's statute sweeps both younger and older minors (under 15) and thus is not a categorical match to any single § 2244 offense, Walker is Tier I; conviction and sentence vacated. |
Key Cases Cited
- Nijhawan v. Holder, 557 U.S. 29 (2009) (approves hybrid approach when statutory text mixes generic offense references and circumstance-specific conditions)
- Descamps v. United States, 570 U.S. 254 (2013) (explains categorical approach compares elements, not underlying facts)
- Mathis v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2243 (2016) (reinforces that the categorical approach involves only element comparison)
- United States v. White, 782 F.3d 1118 (10th Cir. 2015) (applies categorical approach to SORNA tiers but permits circumstance-specific inquiry for victim age)
- United States v. Berry, 814 F.3d 192 (4th Cir. 2016) (concludes SORNA requires categorical analysis for the listed federal offenses and circumstance-specific inquiry for victim age)