United States v. Rudy Wahchumwah

Appellant Rudy Lee Wahchumwah appeals his conviction for failure to register as a sex offender in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), see 18 U.S.C. § 2250 , and his 24-month, within-Guidelines sentence.

1. We deferred submission of this case pending the Supreme Court’s decision in Carr v. United States, — U.S. ---, 130 S.Ct. 2229 , 176 L.Ed.2d 1152 (2010). Because Wahchumwah was initially prosecuted as a sex offender under federal law and, in the present case, was charged and convicted of failing to register while he was residing in Indian country in late 2007, Carr does not affect this appeal. See 18 U.S.C. § 2250 (a)(2)(A)-(B); Carr, 130 S.Ct. at 2235 n. 3 (noting “[f]or persons convicted of sex offenses under federal or Indian tribal law, interstate travel is not a prerequisite to § 2250 liability”).

2. We review de novo a motion to dismiss based on statutory or constitutional interpretation. United States v. Other Medicine, 596 F.3d 677, 680 (9th Cir.2010). The district court correctly denied Wahchumwah’s motion to dismiss because SORNA is not unconstitutionally vague and because Wahehumwah’s conviction was not contingent on Washington…