United States First Circuit

In this case, defendant entered a plea agreement with the government after being charged by a federal grand jury with being a sex offender who had traveled in interstate commerce without registering or updating his registration. Defendant had previously sexually assaulted two children under the age of 14. Imposition of an elevated sentence of 37 months following the district court's assessment of defendant's criminal history as gross sexual assault is affirmed, where: 1) under United States v. Eirby, the strict liability offense of engagement in a sexual act with a 14 or 15-year-old minor by a person at least 10 years older is categorically a crime of violence, and thus, qualifies as a predicate offense under the career offender guideline, U.S.S.G. section 4B1.2(a)(2); and 2) the district court's criminal history calculation was therefore unimpugnable.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/26/2015
• Published 01/26/2015

Judges

• Selya

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel