United States of America v. Cledale Caldwell

Kansas City, Kansas, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with failing to register as a sex as offender as required in the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act ("SORNA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a).



He admitted that after he relocated from Kansas to Oklahoma, he failed to update his registration between

May 4, 2020, and June 6, 2021.



During this time period, Mr. Caldwell also committed two state crimes in Oklahoma:



(1) On May 22, 2020, he was arrested for obstructing an

officer and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was convicted and sentenced on August 11, 2020, to

12 months in jail, with a suspended sentence.



(2) On March 18, 2021, he was arrested for obstructing an

officer and unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous

substance. He was convicted and sentenced on March 19,

2021, to six months in jail.



Mr. Caldwell's presentence investigation report ("PSR”) on the SORNA

offense recommended treating each Oklahoma sentence as part of his criminal

history. It assessed one criminal history point for his 2020 sentence, two points for

his 2021 sentence, and one more point because Mr. Caldwell committed the SORNA

offense while subject to the 2020 sentence and had seven or more points.

See U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(e). His total of 11 criminal history points put him in criminal

history category V, which, combined with his total offense level of 10, yielded a

Guidelines range of 21 to 27 months.



Mr. Caldwell objected to counting his Oklahoma sentences as criminal history,

arguing they should instead have been considered as relevant conduct that occurred

during the commission of his SORNA offense. Doing so, he argued, would have left

him with seven criminal history points, a category IV criminal history, and a

Guidelines range of 15 to 21 months.

Affirmed