United States v. Kennedy

MEMORANDUM *

This is a bail pending trial appeal by the government. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

*707 Magistrate Judge Donohue’s November 25, 2008, 593 F.Supp.2d 1221 , order contains a thorough description of this case, and we need not repeat the background here. In short, the district court concluded that the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (“Walsh Act”), 18 U.S.C. § 3142 (c)(1)(B), was unconstitutional as applied to defendant. Accordingly, the district court denied the government’s motion to modify release conditions to include those called for by the Walsh Act, and this appeal followed.

The Walsh Act amended the Bail Reform Act of 1984, 18 U.S.C. § 3142 , to require that defendants charged with certain listed crimes be placed on a prescribed minimum set of release conditions. Many of the terms of the Walsh Act are undefined. For example, a “condition of electronic monitoring” shall be imposed, but the statute does not require or define that condition to be continuous or limited to a particular locality. 18 U.S.C. § 3142 (c)(1)(B). “[Restrictions on personal associations, place of abode, or travel” are required, but the statute does not…