Indictment of a defendant for failing to update his sex offender registration and for traveling interstate is reversed because Sexual Offenders Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) explicitly required the Attorney General to specify the applicability of the Act to persons convicted prior to the effective date of SORNA, and because the Attorney General did not promulgate a regulation making that determination in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act, defendant was not subject to SORNA's requirements during the period indicated in the indictment.
Appellate Information
Argued: April 28, 2009
Decided and Filed: October 13, 2009
Judges
Opinion by Circuit Judge Rogers
Counsel
For Appellant: Amy B. Cleary, Federal Public Defender's Office, Cleveland, Ohio
For Appellee: Michael A. Sullivan, Assistant United States Attorney, Cleveland, Ohio