Interesting sex offender ruling from the Sixth Circuit

In addition to doing strong post-Booker work on reasonableness review (some recent highlights here and here), the Sixth Circuit can be counted for interesting work on other sentencing issues.  Today we get an intriguing ruling on supervised release conditions and sex-offender treatment in US v. Carter, No. 05-6129 (6th Cir. Sept. 18, 2006) (available here).  Here is the start of the majority opinion:

Defendant-Appellant Larry W. Carter appeals the imposition of a special supervised-release condition mandating sex-offender treatment.  Carter challenges the condition on the ground that it is not reasonably related to either his instant conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm or his convictions for sex offenses committed in 1988. Carter also challenges one aspect of the treatment program — polygraph testing — on the ground that it violates his Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination.

Because Carter's instant conviction is not a sex offense and Carter's prior convictions are either too remote in time or not clearly sexual in nature, we VACATE the special condition. We instruct the district court on REMAND to determine whether Carter's 2004 stalking conviction is sexual in nature and therefore provides an independent basis for the special condition. This resolution makes it unnecessary to address the Fifth Amendment challenge.