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Case 22-1426, Document 109-1, 09/17/2024, 3634097, Page15 of 26
approach as opposed to a “categorical approach.”*? We see no reason
to depart from our reasoning in Weingarten. Accordingly, the question
presented here is whether the charged offenses involved the sexual
abuse of a minor for the purposes of § 3283 based on the facts of the
case. Jane, one of the women who testified at trial, gave evidence that
she had been sexually abused when transported across state lines as a
minor. Counts Three and Four thus qualify as offenses, and § 3283
applies to those offenses.
Second, Maxwell argues that Counts Three, Four, and Six of the
Indictment are barred by the statute of limitations because the
extended statute of limitations provided by the 2003 amendment to
§ 3283 does not apply to pre-enactment conduct. In Landgraf v. USI
Film Products, the Supreme Court held that a court, in deciding
whether a statute applies retroactively, must first “determine whether
Congress has expressly prescribed the statute’s proper reach.” If
Congress has done so, “the inquiry ends, and the court enforces the
2 The “categorical approach” is a method of statutory interpretation that requires courts to
look “only to the statutory definitions of the prior offenses, and not to the particular facts
underlying those convictions” for sentencing and immigration purposes. Taylor v. United
States, 495 U.S. 575, 600 (1990). We properly reasoned in Weingarten that § 3283 met none of
the conditions listed by Taylor that might require application of the categorical approach.
See Weingarten, 865 F.3d at 58-60. First, “[t]he language of § 3283[] .. . reaches beyond the
offense and its legal elements to the conduct ‘involv[ed]’ in the offense.” Id. at 59-60. Second,
legislative history suggests that Congress intended § 3283 to be applied broadly. Id. at 60.
Third, a case-specific approach would not produce practical difficulties or potential
unfairness. Id.
3511 U.S. 244, 280 (1994); see also Weingarten, 865 F.3d at 54-55.
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