United States v. Childress

Defendant pleaded guilty as a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). At the time of sentencing, Defendant had a pending incest charge in Tennessee relating to inappropriate sexual contact with his minor half-sister. After his federal sentencing, Defendant was convicted on the incest charge. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction for a Miranda violation and remanded. While Defendant’s new state case was pending, the Probation Office sought modifications to Defendant’s special conditions of supervised release: that Defendant have no contact with his sex offense victim(s) and submit to a psychosexual assessment at his own expense. Defendant pleaded guilty in state court to the reduced charge of aggravated assault. The federal court held a hearing and considered multiple reports relating to his state conviction that described numerous incidents of inappropriate sexual conduct between Defendant and his half-sister, only some of which formed the basis for his state court convictions. Defendant argued that a psychosexual evaluation was intrusive, unrelated to his federal offense, and not the “least restrictive means” to achieve the sentencing purposes of 18 U.S.C. 3553(a). The Sixth Circuit affirmed imposition of the conditions, agreeing that Defendant’s “history and characteristics” justified a psychosexual evaluation. The government conceded that it would not conduct a penile plethysmography test without seeking an additional order. View "United States v. Childress" on Justia Law