United States v. Kenrick

241 F. App'x 10
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedAugust 21, 2007
Docket05-5077
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 241 F. App'x 10 (United States v. Kenrick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Kenrick, 241 F. App'x 10 (3d Cir. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

GREENBERG, Circuit Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On November 8, 2004, a grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania returned an indictment against appellant Derrick Kenrick 1 (“Kenrick”), charging him with one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b). Kenrick subsequently pled guilty to the indictment on July 7, 2005, pursuant to a plea agreement he reached with the government. On November 4, 2005, the district court sentenced Kenrick to 46 months’ imprisonment to be followed by a lifetime term of supervised release. Kenrick’s supervised release was conditioned on several requirements, including that he participate in a sex offender treatment program, be prohibited from possessing any materials depicting or describing sexually explicit conduct as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 2256(2), agree to submit to polygraph examinations to determine his compliance with the conditions of his supervised release, and cooperate in the collection of his DNA at the direction of his probation officer. Kenrick does not challenge either his conviction or the length of his custodial sentence. Rather, he protests the district court’s imposition of the lifetime term of supervised release as well as the above-listed special conditions of that release. In a result consistent with our recent decision in United States v. Voelker, 489 F.3d 139 (3d Cir.2007), we will vacate the judgment imposing Ken-rick’s sentence insofar as it includes a lifetime term of supervised release as well as the related requirement prohibiting Ken-rick from possessing sexually explicit materials, and will remand for resentencing.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. Conduct Underlying the Charges

Kenrick, then a 46-year-old Georgia resident, met the victim, then a 13-year-old Pennsylvania resident, online in May 2002. 2 Over the next several years, Ken- *12 rick and the victim communicated regularly, both online and by telephone. Subsequently, when the victim turned 15, Kenrick asked her to marry him, indicating that he was going to come to Pennsylvania to meet and live with her.

In August 2004, Kenrick did indeed travel from Georgia to Pennsylvania where he went to the victim’s home. The victim, however, was not there when he arrived. Kenrick returned several days later, meeting the victim in person for the first time. Although Kenrick returned to Georgia, he subsequently traveled back to Pennsylvania, this time staying with the victim’s family. While in the victim’s home, Ken-rick and the victim engaged in various sexual acts. 3 Kenrick eventually moved into an apartment located in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the town in which the victim lived, and continued to see her for several weeks. Ultimately, however, the victim’s parents asked Kenrick not to see the victim any longer.

B. The Charges

Law enforcement authorities first became aware of Kenrick’s conduct in September 2004, a discovery which led them to file a criminal complaint against him. Kenrick then was apprehended in October 2004. He subsequently admitted to the authorities both that he came to Pennsylvania for the express purpose of meeting the victim, and that he had engaged in sexual acts with her when she was 15 years old.

A grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania returned an indictment against Kenrick on November 8, 2004, charging him with one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b), which states in relevant part:

A person who travels in interstate commerce or travels into the United States, or a United States citizen or an alien admitted for permanent residence in the United States who travels in foreign commerce, for the purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with another person shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 30 years or both.

18 U.S.C. § 2423(b). The indictment, citing to the 2003 Sentencing Guidelines, set forth various sentencing allegations, including that the base offense level for Ken-rick’s crime was 24 (citing U.S.S.G. § 2A3.2(a)(l)); the victim was in Kenrick’s custody, care, or supervisory control (citing U.S.S.G. § 2A3.2(b)(l)); a computer or Internet access device was used to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct as well as to facilitate transportation or travel by Kenrick to engage in the same (citing U.S.S.G. § 2A3.2(b)(3)); the victim was a vulnerable victim (citing U.S.S.G. § 3Al.l(b)); Kenrick obstructed or impeded the administration of justice (citing U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1); and an upward departure was warranted (citing U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0).

C. Plea Negotiations and the Presentence Report

Although Kenrick previously had pleaded not guilty, on July 7, 2005, pursuant to the plea agreement he reached with the government, he changed his plea to guilty. During Kenrick’s change of plea hearing, Kenrick and the government agreed that the 2004 Sentencing Guidelines applied and that a sentence at the upper end of the guidelines range (i.e., approximately 46 months) would be both reasonable and ap *13 propriate. 4 Id. at 25-26. Kenrick agreed as well to register as a convicted sex offender upon his release from prison. Id. at 34. The district court accepted Ken-rick’s guilty plea, as set forth in the plea agreement. Id. at 36.

In anticipation of Kenrick’s sentencing hearing, the United States Probation Office prepared a Presentence Report (“PSR”). Relying on the 2003 version of the Sentencing Guidelines, the United States Probation Office applied U.S.S.G. § 2A3.2(a)(l), resulting in a base offense level of 24. To this total, it added 4 levels: 2 under U.S.S.G. § 2A3.2(b)(l) because the victim was in Kenrick’s custody, care, or supervisory control and 2 under U.S.S.G. § 2A3.2(b)(3) because Kenrick used a computer or Internet access device to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct. With a 3-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1, the Probation Office calculated Kenrick’s total offense level to be 25. Combined with a criminal history category of I, this total offense level yielded a sentencing guideline range of 57 to 71 months’ incarceration. Additionally, the PSR indicated that the court could impose a lifetime term of supervised release on Kenrick. 5

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Bluebook (online)
241 F. App'x 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-kenrick-ca3-2007.