No. 08-8513. - KENNEDY v. ALLERA - US 4th Circuit
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Title; No. 08-8513. - KENNEDY v. ALLERA - US 4th Circuit Not a Legal Professional? Visit our consumer site Register I Login
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US 4th Cir.
• KENNEDY v. ALLERA
United States Court of Appeals,Fourth Circuit.
EFTA_R1_01524274
EFTA02445563
KENNEDY v. ALLERA
Michael Edward KENNEDY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Michael P. ALLERA, United States Probation Service; William S. Henry, United States Probation Service; Edward F. Reilly, Chairman, United States Parole Commission; John Joseph Curran, .1 r., Office of the Attorney General; Kathryn Seifert, Director, Eastern Shore Psychological Services, Respondents-Appellees.
No. 08-8513.
Argued May 13, 2010. — July 15, 2010
Before NIEMEYER, GREGORY, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
ARGUED:Paresh S. Patel, office of the Federal Public Defender, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellant. Larry David Adams, Office of the United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:James Wyda, Federal Public Defender, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees.
OPINION
Having been released on parole after serving 20 years of a life sentence of imprisonment for a 1980 federal conviction for rape and murder, Michael Kennedy was directed by his U.S. Probation Officer, as a condition of parole, to report to the Wicomico County, Maryland, Sheriffs Office and to register as a sex offender, in accordance with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act ("SORNA"), Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, Pub.L. No. 109-248, §§ 101-155, 120 Stat. 587, 590-611 (codified primarily at 42 U.S.C. §§ 16901-16962 and 18 U.S.C. § 2250). See 42 U.S.C. § 16913(a) (imposing a duty on sex offenders to register in the States in which they reside, work, and study); 28 C.F.R. § 72.3 (making SORNA applicable to those convicted of a sex offense prior to SORNA's enactment). Acknowledging the broad scope of his Probation Officer's authority, Kennedy nonetheless argues that the order to register was unreasonable because (1) it was premised on an incorrect reading of SORNA; (2) he was unable lawfully to register in Maryland under the terms of Maryland's state registry; and (3) the order violated the Tenth Amendment by commandeering Maryland officials to register him in violation of Maryland law.
We conclude that because SORNA lawfully imposes, as a matter of federal law, registration obligations directly on sex offenders, such as Kennedy, the Probation Officer acted within his discretion in imposing the registration requirement and that Kennedy is not relieved of that duty by any restriction in Maryland law or by Maryland's failure to implement SORNA. We also reject Kennedy's Tenth Amendment challenge. Accordingly, we vacate our earlier opinion, Kennedy v. Allen, No. 08-8513, 361 F. App'x 442 (4th Cir. Oct. 22, 2009) (affirming on the ground that Kennedy was required to register under Maryland law independent of his duty under SORNA), and affirm the judgment of the district court for the reasons given herein.