Four-Year Sentence for SORNA Violation

SL&P has the story of a defendant who was sentenced to four years imprisonment following a trial for failing to register under SORNA:

A Tennessee man convicted earlier this year for failing to register as a sex offender under the Adam Walsh Act has been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison without parole.

Tommy Edward LeTourneau, 47, appeared before U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen Tuesday morning where his sentenced was handed down.

His sentencing also includes a lifetime supervised release for failing to register as a sex offender. It also mandates that he register as a sex offender, attend mental and sex offender counseling and have no contact with minors, plus other sex offender conditions, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office press released.

LeTourneau's case was the first of its kind to go to trial in the Southern District of Texas under the revised Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

LeTourneau previously made constitutional objections to SORNA, but after failing in those arguments went to trial. I will be surprised if many of these cases actually go to trial because there rarely is much of a defense. The four year sentence provides a data point as to what other defendants might receive although predicting sentences under SORNA so far has been hard to do with any reliability.

Comments

[disillusion1998]

I find it very interesting that he was sentenced for something that is just a regulatory "scheme", certainly not a "sex crime", and yet he ends up with tons of "sex offender" probation/parole conditions. I've got to say that if that were me, I wouldn't allow it. Not even part of it. Starting with the "lifetime supervision" part. Actually, probably starting with the "going to trial" part.

I do hope that prior to being arrested he exercised opportunities to make a preemptive strike against various criminals governments. Regardless, if and when he returns to society, I believe he will then have practically a moral obligation to do so. I doubt we've protected anyone with this arrest, probably quite the contrary.