United States v. Timothy Carlson, 702 F. App'x 569

Defendant Timothy Carlson pled guilty to receipt and possession of child pornography under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252A(a)(2) and 2252A(a)(5)(B).
District court vacated the possession conviction as a lesser-included offense of receipt to avoid double jeopardy, leaving only the receipt conviction.
The government sought a mandatory-minimum enhancement under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(b)(1) based on Carlson’s prior Washington convictions for second-degree child molestation (sexual contact with children aged 12–13).
Carlson argued his Washington convictions do not qualify as predicate offenses under the categorical approach because Washington’s elements are not identical to the federal Sexual Abuse of a Minor offenses (18 U.S.C. §§ 2243, 2244), relying on Descamps.
The Ninth Circuit applied circuit precedent holding § 2252A(b)(1) requires only that a state conviction ‘‘relate to’’ aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct involving a minor, not strict element-by-element identity.
The court concluded Carlson’s Washington convictions necessarily involved abusive sexual conduct with young children under controlling Ninth Circuit precedent, affirmed the enhancement, and upheld the district court’s choice to vacate the lesser-included possession conviction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether prior WA child-molestation convictions qualify as predicates for § 2252A(b)(1) enhancement	Government: state convictions ‘‘relate to’’ federal abusive-sexual-conduct offenses and thus trigger the enhancement	Carlson: under the categorical approach (Descamps) WA statute is not identical to federal sexual-abuse statutes, so convictions do not qualify	The Ninth Circuit held § 2252A(b)(1) requires only that the state offense ‘‘relate to’’ the listed federal offenses; Carlson’s WA convictions categorically involved abusive sexual conduct and qualify
Whether district court abused discretion in vacating the lesser-included possession count rather than the greater receipt count	Government: district court should follow usual practice to vacate lesser-included offense absent unusual circumstances	Carlson: vacating the lesser offense produced a higher mandatory minimum (15 yrs vs 10 yrs); statement that the 15-yr minimum is "greater than necessary" shows abuse	Court held no abuse: district court reasonably exercised § 3553(a) discretion and its comment reflected a policy view, not an error requiring reversal

United States v. Sullivan, 797 F.3d 623 (9th Cir. 2015) (interpreting § 2252A enhancement to require state conviction that "relates to" enumerated federal sexual-offense categories rather than strict categorical equivalence)
United States v. Baron-Medina, 187 F.3d 1144 (9th Cir. 1999) (use of young children for sexual gratification is per se abusive)
United States v. Lopez-Solis, 447 F.3d 1201 (9th Cir. 2006) (sexual contact with a child under 14 necessarily involves psychological abuse)
United States v. Medina-Villa, 567 F.3d 507 (9th Cir. 2009) (confirming Baron-Medina’s rule about abuse involving young children)
United States v. Davenport, 519 F.3d 940 (9th Cir. 2008) (possession is a lesser-included offense of receipt in child-pornography prosecutions)
United States v. Maier, 646 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir. 2011) (district courts should normally vacate the lesser-included offense absent unusual circumstances)
Descamps v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 2276 (2013) (articulating the categorical approach to compare state and federal offense elements)