US v Trent

8-5-2011 Ohio:

USv Trent

US v Trent: Roger Dale Trent was indicted on December 11, 2007 in the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio. The one-count indictment charged that between on or about November 2, 2007, and November 25, 2007, Trent, an individual required to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 42 U.S.C. § 16901 et seq., traveled in interstate commerce to the Southern District of Ohio and knowingly failed to register and update a registration as required by SORNA, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a), which creates criminal penalties for failing to register under SORNA. .....

Trent now files his appeal in this Court, reasserting each of the constitutional and statutory challenges rejected by the district court, arguing that the district judge erred in each of his rulings on Trent's motion to dismiss the indictment, and further asserting that his prosecution under SORNA violates the Tenth Amendment, an argument that Trent did not present in the district court. For the reasons that follow, we REVERSE the decision of the district court and DISMISS the indictment because Trent was not required to register under SORNA at the time of his indicted failure to register.