United States v. 2012-03-07 | 08-30339 | USA V. PHILLIP GEORGE | precedential | opinion |

FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 08-30339
Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No.
v. 2:07-CR-02119-
WFN-1PHILLIP WILLIAMS GEORGE,  Eastern District ofDefendant-Appellant. Washington,
Spokane
ORDER

Filed March 7, 2012
Before: William C. Canby, Jr., Jay S. Bybee, and
Consuelo M. Callahan, Circuit Judges.
ORDER
Phillip Williams George was charged with, and convicted
of, failing on September 27, 2007 to register as required under
the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, 18 U.S.C.
§ 2250 (“SORNA”). The grand jury charged that George had
been convicted in 2003 of sexual abuse of a minor on an
Indian Reservation in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2243(A) and
1153, and had subsequently traveled in interstate commerce
and failed to register as required by SORNA. We affirmed his
conviction. United States v. George, 625 F.3d 124 (9th Cir.
2010).
Thereafter, George filed a petition for rehearing en banc
and a motion to dismiss the indictment. The motion to dismiss
was based on our opinion in United States v. Valverde, 628
F.3d 1159 (9th Cir. 2010), in which we held that the Attorney
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General’s February 28, 2007 interim rule applying SORNA to
sex offenders who were convicted before SORNA’s enact-
ment was invalid and that SORNA did not become applicable
to such individuals until August 1, 2008. Id. at 1160. The
motion to dismiss was held in abeyance pending the Govern-
ment’s petition for a writ of certiorari from Valverde.
The Supreme Court has now denied the Government’s peti-
tion from Valverde. Accordingly, as George was charged with
violating SORNA on September 27, 2007, at a time when we
have determined SORNA was not applicable to persons such
as George, his motion to dismiss must be granted.
We hereby grant the motion to dismiss, vacate our prior
opinion, and remand this matter to the district court with
directions to dismiss the indictment against George. This
action renders the petition for rehearing en banc moot.
2594 UNITED STATES v. GEORGE

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