United States v. Ronald Colson, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 12936

Colson pleaded guilty to six counts of receiving child pornography under 18 U.S.C. §2252A(a)(2).
District court imposed a 15-year mandatory minimum under §2252A(b)(1) based on a prior state conviction relating to sexual abuse or abusive sexual conduct involving a minor.
Prior conviction (1984) Virginia: Va. Code Ann. §18.2-374.1(B)(2) for production/possession of obscene items involving children.
Virginia statute at issue punished five categories including lewd exhibition of nudity; the most innocent conduct would be lewd exhibition of nudity.
Record of the prior conviction was destroyed; court applied the categorical approach per Shepard v. United States to determine if the offense related to sexual abuse/child pornography.
Court affirmed the district court’s judgment, holding the Virginia conviction categorically relates to sexual abuse/abusive conduct and qualifies as a predicate offense.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether 1984 Virginia conviction qualifies as §2252A(b)(1) predicate.	Colson: conviction not related to sexual abuse of a minor under the categorical approach.	Colson: Virginia statute covers innocuous nudity; cannot relate to sexual abuse.	Yes; it relates to sexual abuse.
How to interpret 'relating to' under §2252A(b)(1) when prior records are limited.	Diaz-Ibarra requires broad 'relating to' meaning; records destroyed but statutory definition suffices.	Need factual predicates; limitations of Shepard exception.	Broad relation suffices; the prior conviction falls within §2252A(b)(1).

Diaz-Ibarra v. United States, 522 F.3d 343 (4th Cir. 2008) (defines 'sexual abuse of a minor' for this purpose and supports broad 'relating to' scope)
Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13 (Supreme Court 2005) (allows considering extra-records when necessary under categorical approach)
Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U.S. 374 (Supreme Court 1992) (explains broad meaning of 'relating to')