United States v. Leon H., a Juvenile

Leon H. is an American Indian who liveson the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation in Montana. On February 6, 2003, Leon H. was convicted in district court for knowingly engaging in sexual acts with a juvenile by using force, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 2241(a)(1) and the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act (“Act”),- 18 U.S.C. § 5031 , et seq. The court found that Leon H. had committed the crime when he was under the age of eighteen and determined that he was a juvenile delinquent. One month later, at his dispo-sitional hearing, Leon H. was sentenced to four years of official detention followed by one year of juvenile delinquent supervision.

He appeals that sentence, arguing that the sentence was incorrectly based on his age at the dispositional hearing rather than his age at the time he committed the crime. This, he argues, violates the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution. Leon H. also makes a statutory argument arising out of ambiguity in the sentencing provisions of the Act, 18 U.S.C. § 5037 . Section 5037 sets out different sentencing ranges for juvenile offenders of different-ages and specifies the relevant age to apply at hearings for probation revocation and juvenile…