United States v. Sarah Norton

48 F.4th 124
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 1, 2022
Docket21-1219
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 48 F.4th 124 (United States v. Sarah Norton) 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. Sarah Norton, 48 F.4th 124 (3d Cir. 2022).

Opinion

PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _______________

No. 21-1219 _______________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.

SARAH NORTON, Appellant _______________

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (D.C. No. 5:18-cr-00171-001) U.S. District Judge: Honorable Joseph F. Leeson, Jr. _______________

Submitted: January 25, 2022

Before: HARDIMAN, SHWARTZ, and FUENTES, Circuit Judges.

(Filed: September 1, 2022) ______________ Christy Martin Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania 601 Walnut Street The Curtis Center, Suite 540 West Philadelphia, PA 19106 Counsel for Appellant Sarah Norton

Sherri A. Stephan Office of United States Attorney 504 West Hamilton Street, Suite 3701 Allentown, PA 18101 Counsel for Appellee United States of America ______________

OPINION OF THE COURT ______________

FUENTES, Circuit Judge.

Sarah Norton, a 38-year-old woman from Connecticut, communicated for several months with a fourteen-year-old boy living in Pennsylvania. These communications became overtly sexual, and on the night of October 14, 2017, she drove from Connecticut to Pennsylvania to meet the minor. The next morning, Norton met up with the minor in a park near his home. Soon after, the minor’s parents discovered Norton’s communications with the minor and notified law enforcement. In April 2018, Norton was charged with attempted enticement of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b), and travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b). In December 2019, a jury found Norton guilty of both charges. The District Court sentenced her to 168

2 months in prison followed by twenty years of supervised release. The Court also imposed special assessments of $200 under 18 U.S.C. § 3013 and $5,000 under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015, 18 U.S.C. § 3014 (“JVTA”). Norton appeals her sentence, arguing that the District Court based it on inaccurate information and thus violated her due process rights. She also asserts that the District Court erred when it imposed the $5,000 JVTA assessment because she is indigent. For the reasons below, we will affirm.

I.

In August 2017, Sarah Norton, a 38-year-old from Connecticut, began chatting with a fourteen-year-old boy living in Pennsylvania on a PlayStation gaming console. Norton was aware the minor was fourteen years old, and she falsely represented herself as being twenty-five years old. Norton kept exchanging messages with the minor for several months, sending increasingly sexually explicit messages 1 and pushing to see the minor in person.

1 Some of the recovered messages included: Norton: Just try and forgive me after I get done with you, especially the first time[] we do it, ‘cause I’m sexually frustrated because of you and you’re a virgin . . . .

Norton: Baby, you have no idea what is in store for you, thank God[] you’re young and will be able to get it back up for me quick, ‘cause you’re gonna cum real fast.

3 Late on October 14, 2017, Norton traveled from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and checked into a hotel in Kutzown, Pennsylvania. The following morning, Norton met up with the minor for approximately two hours in a park near his home. That meeting was cut short because the minor had to go to lunch with his father and stepmother. Norton waited in the area for the minor to return from lunch. The parties contest exactly where she waited. Norton testified that she went back to the hotel and then to a festival at Orchard Farms. At sentencing, however, the Government argued that the “trial evidence,” including “GPS records,” “conclusively put[] her in th[e] park” waiting for the minor. 2

The minor attempted to go back to the park after lunch but was stopped by his father. At that time, the minor’s parents checked his electronic devices, including his phone and video games, and found the messages between the minor and Norton. The minor’s parents then notified law enforcement and gave them consent to examine the minor’s electronic devices.

In April 2018, Norton was indicted by a grand jury and charged with attempted enticement of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b), and travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b). Norton proceeded to trial, where she testified that she did not travel to Pennsylvania with the intent to have sex with the minor. Norton, however, admitted that she traveled to

App. 358. Because the specific content of the “highly sexualized, graphic, and indeed crude” messages Norton sent to the minor is irrelevant to the issues on appeal, we do not detail it in full here. Appellant’s Opening Br. at 5 n.2. 2 App. 548, 566.

4 Pennsylvania to meet him, and did not object to the Government’s cell site evidence. 3 She also admitted to sending the minor sexually explicit messages. On December 11, 2019, the jury found Norton guilty of both charges.

After briefing and a hearing, the District Court found Norton’s Guidelines range to be 151 to 188 months of imprisonment. That calculation included a two-point enhancement for misrepresenting her age to the minor, U.S.S.G. § 2G1.3(b)(2)(A); a two-point enhancement for using a computer to perpetrate the offense, U.S.S.G. § 2G1.3(b)(3)(A); and a two-point enhancement for obstruction of justice for making a materially false statement during her trial testimony, U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1. Norton objected to the two-level enhancements for misrepresenting her age to

3 Janet Smilowski, a Criminal Intelligence Analyst with the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, testified about the location of Norton’s cellphone on October 14 and 15, 2017. Smilowski explained that cellphones “ping” off cell towers, which enables someone to figure out approximately where the cellphone is at any given time. The Government introduced several exhibits showing maps created from Norton’s cellphone records, which Smilowski testified showed Norton leaving Connecticut, traveling to Pennsylvania, and arriving in Pennsylvania. Smilowski also testified that on October 15, 2017 at 10:15 a.m. the cellphone was in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania (around the park where Norton met the minor), and that at 12:05 p.m. it was in Kutztown, Pennsylvania (around the hotel where Norton was staying). Most relevant to this appeal, Smilowski testified that at 2:15 p.m., Norton’s cellphone was pinging in the vicinity of the park where Norton met with the victim earlier that day.

5 the minor and for making a materially false statement during her trial testimony. Norton’s counsel continued to press Norton’s contention that she did not travel across state lines to have sex with the minor and argued that Norton’s misrepresentation of her age had no effect on the offense.

The Government responded that Norton’s lie about her age was a key factor that enabled her to commit her crimes. The Government also asserted that, because the jury found Norton guilty of travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, it also concluded, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Norton necessarily lied when she testified otherwise.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 F.4th 124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sarah-norton-ca3-2022.