United States v. Collins
| Decision Date | 08 December 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 14–4019.,14–4019. |
| Citation | 773 F.3d 25 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Dwaine Allen COLLINS, a/k/a Dwaine Allen Cline, Defendant–Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
ARGUED:Jonathan D. Byrne, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellant. Jennifer Rada Herrald, Office of the United States Attorney, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF:Brian J. Kornbrath, Acting Federal Public Defender, Lex A. Coleman, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellant. R. Booth Goodwin, II, United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellee.
Before WILKINSON, MOTZ, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed in part; vacated and remanded in part by published opinion. Judge FLOYD wrote the opinion, in which Judge WILKINSON and Judge MOTZ joined.
Dwaine Allen Collins was convicted of knowingly failing to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). The district court sentenced Collins to 30 months' imprisonment and ten years of supervised release. On this direct appeal, Collins contests his conviction primarily on the grounds that the government failed to prove an essential element of a SORNA violation: that he knew he had an obligation to register.
In support, he points to comments made by a state court judge in a separate proceeding, which in Collins's view suggest that his obligation to register had expired. We agree with the district court, however, that the state judge appeared to be giving advice rather than a binding legal opinion. Moreover, there is substantial evidence in the record to support the district court's conclusion that Collins knowingly avoided an obligation to register as a sex offender. We thus find Collins's claim unpersuasive and affirm his conviction.
Collins also appeals his sentence. We find his 30–month term of imprisonment, which is within the applicable Guidelines range, to be reasonable and thus affirm the district court's sentence in that respect. As to the term of supervised release, however, the United States Sentencing Commission recently issued a clarifying amendment stating that a failure to register under SORNA is not a “sex offense” for the purposes of the Guidelines. Consequently, we vacate the supervised release portion of Collins's sentence and remand for further proceedings.
In 1998, Dwaine Allen Collins pleaded guilty to two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child in North Carolina. Upon his conviction, both North Carolina and federal law required him to register as a sex offender.
After his release from prison in 2001, Collins moved to Ohio, where he registered as a sex offender. As part of the registration procedures, Collins signed a form, titled “Explanation of Duties to Register as a Sex Offender,” which explained that he was required to register annually for ten years and verify his residence annually. Despite signing this form, Collins failed to re-register in 2002. Thus a warrant was issued in Ohio for his arrest. Before he could be apprehended, he moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he remained until 2011. He did not register his sex offender status in West Virginia during that time.
In January 2011, Collins was arrested while attempting to steal a television in Ohio. After being released, he was detained on the 2002 warrant for failing to update his registration. While in custody, Collins signed another form, titled “Notice of Registration Duties of Sexually Oriented Offender or Child–Victim Offender.” J.A. 145. The form listed Collins's expected address as Parkersburg, West Virginia, but did not identify the sheriff's office where Collins was to register. The form also stated that: (i) Collins was classified as a Tier II sex offender, a more serious category than his original Tier I status; and (ii) he was required to register for 25 years. The 25–year requirement conflicts with his original 10–year requirement.1
In March 2011, Collins pleaded no contest to the single count indictment in Ohio state court charging him with failing to verify his address. In the state court proceeding, the judge suggested that a recent Ohio Supreme Court case rendered the increase from a 10–year registration period to a 25–year registration period “void.”2 J.A. 78. The judge further suggested that the original ten-year registration requirement applied. Id.; see also J.A. 78 (). Thus the judge sentenced Collins to time served for the outstanding 2002 warrant. J.A. 79–80.
After being released from custody in Ohio, Collins returned to West Virginia. He again did not register as a sex offender with West Virginia authorities, despite signing forms expressly stating that he was required to do so.
In May 2013, Collins was again charged for failing to register as a sex offender—this time under federal law (SORNA), a violation separate from the one underlying the first indictment in Ohio. In the federal proceeding, the parties agreed to a bench trial on a single issue: whether Collins had knowingly failed to register as a sex offender.
Collins agreed to a bench trial. Collins primarily argued that he had not “knowingly” failed to register as a sex offender in light of the Ohio state court judge's comments that his 10 year registration period had expired. The district court rejected this argument. Notwithstanding any requirement to register under state law, the district court concluded that Collins had a separate obligation to register under federal law—namely SORNA. The district court found that the knowledge element was satisfied as long as Collins knew he was required to register “under some scheme”—that is, any state or federal law, but not necessarily SORNA specifically. J.A. 147. The district court also rejected Collins's reliance on the Ohio state judge's statements, concluding that the judge “did not make a definite legal ruling during the sentencing hearing as to whether [Collins] was no longer required to register at all” and that the judge was merely “stating his opinion.” J.A. 146.
The presentence investigation report (PSR) calculated the Guideline range for Collins's conviction as 30–37 months based on a base offense level of 12 and Category VI criminal history. The district court granted Collins's request for a two-level reduction (to level 10) for acceptance of responsibility, thus reducing the Guideline range to 24–30 months. Emphasizing Collins's long criminal history, the district court imposed a 30–month sentence, finding that a sentence at the upper limit of the Guidelines was “appropriate to protect the community.” J.A. 180. Although both Collins and the government agreed that a five-year supervised release period was appropriate, the district court imposed ten years of supervised release.
We first address Collins's challenge to his SORNA conviction. Following a bench trial, this Circuit reviews findings of fact for clear error and findings of law de novo. United States v. Leftenant, 341 F.3d 338, 342–43 (4th Cir.2003).3 A guilty verdict must be affirmed if “any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Poole, 640 F.3d 114, 121 (4th Cir.2011) (quoting United States v. Madrigal–Valadez, 561 F.3d 370, 374 (4th Cir.2009) ). “This standard is met when there is substantial evidence in the record, viewed in the light most favorable to the government, to support the district court's judgment.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
Under SORNA, a “sex offender shall register, and keep the registration current, in each jurisdiction where the offender resides, where the offender is an employee, and where the offender is a student.” 42 U.S.C. § 16913(a). Failure to register triggers an array of potential penalties, but only if the offender has knowledge of the registration requirement. 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a)(3) ().
The parties do not dispute that Collins was a sex offender under federal law, that he was required to register under SORNA, and that he failed to do so. Appellee Br. at 12; Appellant Br. at 13. The only issue regarding his conviction is whether Collins knowingly failed to register, as required under 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a)(3).
In criminal trials, the government can “establish a defendant's guilty knowledge by either of two different means.”
Poole, 640 F.3d at 121. “The government may show that a defendant actually was aware of a particular fact or circumstance, or that the defendant knew of a high probability that a fact or circumstance existed and deliberately sought to avoid confirming that suspicion.” Id.
Here, the government relies on the latter means, arguing that Collins's previous failure to register in Ohio and West Virginia showed, as the district court found, “his state of mind and intention to avoid registration requirements.” J.A. 144. In further support of its argument that Collins knew he had a duty to register, the government also cites: (i) the fact that Collins registered as a sex offender several times in North Carolina and Ohio between 2002 and 2011; (ii) Collins's signed notification forms reminding him of his registration obligations; (iii) his statements to the police that he disliked registering as a sex offender because he had previously been assaulted after doing so; and (iv) his use of an alias, which the government contends he used to avoid being identified as a sex offender.
Although Collins disputes much of this evidence, he primarily seeks reversal based on the Ohio state judge's statement that he had no further registration requirements. In...
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