United States v. Christopher MateenUnited States v. Christopher Mateen
Lead Opinion
Thе court delivered a PER CURIAM opinion, in which COLE, C.J., and BOGGS,
BATCHELDER, MOORE, GIBBONS, ROGERS, SUTTON, COOK, McKEAGUE, GRIFFIN, KETHLEDGE, WHITE, STRANCH, and DONALD, JJ„ joined, and CLAY, J. joined in the result. CLAY, J. (pp. 633-36), delivered a separate opinion concurring in the judgment.
OPINION
The federal statutes prohibiting the sale, distribution, and possession of child pornography include sentencing-enhancement provisions that apply to recidivist offenders who have also been convicted of certain predicate state and federal offenses. Christopher Mateen pleaded guilty to possessing “visual depiction[s] involv[ing] the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct,” in violation of
At issue in this appeal is the proper construction of the sentencing-enhancement provision, which provides that an individual with a prior cоnviction “under the laws of any State relating to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct involving a minor or ward” will be subject to the enhancement.
I. BACKGROUND
In 2012, an officer with a Franklin County task force targeting internet crimes against children detected an IP address that hosted and shared severаl images and movies of minors engaging in sexual acts. The officer traced the IP address to the residence of Christopher Mateen. Investigators executed a search warrant at the residence and recovered a computer, which held over 300 images and movies of child pornography. R. 43 (Plea Hr’g Tr. at 20-21) (Page ID # 195-96). Mateen pleaded guilty to knowing possession of child pornography, in violation of
Mateen’s 2012 conviction was not his first conviction involving sexual misconduct. Several years еarlier, he pleaded guilty to Gross Sexual Imposition in violation of Ohio Revised Code § 2907.05, which provides:
(A) No person shall have sexual contact with another, not the spouse of the offender; cause another, not the spouse of the offender, to have sexual contact with the offender; or cause two or more other persons to have sexual contact when any of the following applies:
(1)The offender purposely compels the other person, or one of the other persons, to submit by force or threat of force.
(2) For the purpose of preventing resistance, the offender substantially impairs the judgment or control of the other person or of one of the other persons by administering any drug, intoxicant, or controlled substance to the other person surreptitiously or by force, threat of force, or deception.
(3) The offender knows that the judgment or control of the other person or of one of the other persons is substantially impaired as a result of the influence of any drug or intoxicant administered to the other person with the other person’s consent for the purpose of any kind of medical or dental examination, treatment, or surgery.
(4) The other person, or one of the other persons, is less than thirteen years of age, whether or not the offender knows the age of that person.
(5) The ability of the other person to resist or consent or the ability of one of the other persons to resist or consent is substantially impaired because of a mental or physical condition or because of advanced age, and the offender knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the ability to resist or consent of the other person or of one of the other persons is substantially impaired because of a mental or physical condition or because of advanced age.
(B) No person shall knowingly touch the genitalia of another, when the touching is not through clothing, the other person is less than twelve years of age, whether or not the offender knows the age of that person, and the touching is done with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.
Violation of the Gross Sexual Imposition statute may constitute a felony of either
In the federal plea agreement, the government indicated that it would seek to apply a statutory sentencing enhancement on the basis-of Mateen’s state Gross Sexual Imposition conviction. R. 12 (Plea Agreement ¶ 2) (Page ID # 18-19). For first-time offenders, violation of
The district court concluded that the sentencing enhancement did not apply to Mateen because his prior conviction for Gross Sexual Imposition did not necessarily “involv[e] a minor or ward.”
On appeal, the government argues that the district court misconstrued the sentencing-enhancement provision.
II. STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION
We review de novo the district court’s legal conclusions, including its “determinations regarding statutory construction,” United States v. Felts,
The grammatical structure of the statutory language favors the interpretation advanced by the government. According to “the grammatiсal ‘rule of the last antecedent/ ... a limiting clause or phrase ... should ordinarily be read as modifying only the noun or phrase that it immediately follows.” Barnhart v. Thomas,
The district court concluded that the titles of the federal statutory section (
Moreover, were we to override the rule of the last antеcedent in the instant case, we would run the danger of rendering some of the statutory language superfluous. “ ‘[Ajbusive sexual conduct involving a minor’ seemingly would encompass anything that constitutes ‘sexual abuse involving a minor/ as well as, for example, other sexual conduct that may be criminalized only when the victim is a child.” United States v. Lockhart,
Two aspects of the statutory structure lend further support to the grammar-based interpretation of the language at issue: First,
Second, the three categories of state predicate offenses parallel three federal crimes identified in the statute as predicate offenses. Chapter 109A, one of the chapters that contain qualifying federal offenses, see
Our construction of the statutory language aligns with that of each of our sister circuits which have carefully considered the issue. See Lockhart,
After the district court misinterpreted the statute as triggering enhancement only if the prior state conviction involved а minor victim, it concluded that the sentencing enhancement did not apply. The district court sentenced Mateen to a ten-year term of imprisonment, believing
III. CONCLUSION
We VACATE the judgment of sentence and REMAND to the district court for resentencing with instructions to reconsider in the first instance whether Mateeris cоnviction for Gross Sexual Imposition triggers application of the statutory sentencing enhancement, consistent with this opinion.
Notes
. Although we note the parallel structure between the three categories of state predicate offenses and the parallel federal crimes in
. Mateen’s argument that the rule of lenity requires us to interрret the statute in his favor is unpersuasive because we “apply the rule of lenity to resolve ambiguities in favor of a defendant [only] when a criminal statutory term is ambiguous and cannot be clarified by the statute's history or structure.” United States v. Booth,
Concurrence Opinion
concurring in the judgment.
I concur in the judgment but write separately to express my concern with this Court’s analysis of the underlying issue in this case. The conclusion reached in the majority opinion — that “involving a minor or ward” modifies only the last of the three forms of conduct listed in
To begin, the majority opinion places great weight in the last antecedent rule as a method for resolving this dispute. However, the majority fails to grapple with a contrary rule of statutory construction, one which was considered by the Second Circuit in United States v. Lockhart,
Next, this Court dismisses the district court’s primary conclusion in two sentences. In its opinion, the district court ignored the rule of the last antecedent, finding that the title of
Reflecting the opinions of a number of our sister circuits, the majority goes on to find that “were we to override the rule of the last antecedent in the instant case, we would run the danger of rendering some of the statutory language superfluous.” Maj. Op. at 631. Quoting the Second Circuit’s analysis in Lockhart, the majority explains that if “involving a minor or ward” were to modify each of the categories of conduct listed in
Next, the majority finds that Congress must have intended the qualifying conduct under state law to include acts against adults and children because the federal predicate offenses listed in
Section 2252A mirrors with respect to “child pornography” ... the prohibitions ... contained in 18 U.S.C. 2252. The penalties insections 2252 and 2252A would be identical. Violation of paragraphs (1), (2), or (3) of section 2252A(a) pertaining to the distribution, reproduc*635 tion, receipt, sale or transportation of child pornography would be fined or imprisoned for not less than 15 years, or both; a repeat offender with a prior conviction under chapter 109A or 110 of title 18, or under any State child abuse law or law relating to the production, receipt or distribution of child pornography would be fined and imprisoned for nоt less than 5 years nor more than 30 years.
Id. at *9 (emphasis added).
The majority opinion also emphasizes a parallel between three of the federal crimes identified as predicate offenses under Chapter 109A (“aggravated sexual abuse” at
This argument is troubling in two respects. The majority has clearly chosen only those arguments that help reach its conclusion and ignored others that are contrary to, or complicate, that conclusion. In a footnote, the majority cautions the reader that
[although we note the parallel structure between the three categories of state predicate offenses and the parallel federal crimes in §§ 2241-43, this should not be construed as implying that the state predicate offenses are to be defined with reference to these sections. The parallel structure is here significant only in that it informs our analysis of what “involving a minor” modifies.
Maj. Op. at 632 n. 1. There is no reason provided to explain why this parallel structure only provides assistance with our analysis of this particular issue, yet does not provide definitions for the state predicate offenses.
Additionally, the language and structure of Chapter 109A do not parallel
Finally, the majority seems to take great solace in the fact that “[o]ur con
For the foregoing reasons, I concur only in the judgment.
. The ''series-qualifier” canon of statutory construction “provides that a modifier at the beginning or end of a series of terms modifies all the terms [in that series].” United States v. Laraneta,
. Although this section of the report specifically deals with