United States v. Pawlak, No. 17-11339 (5th Cir. 2019)
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The Fifth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for receipt of child pornography and access with intent to view child pornography involving a prepubescent minor. The court held that the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to dismiss, holding that defendant willingly and actively participated in the offense and was therefore not entitled to assert the outrageous-conduct defense on this ground alone. Furthermore, the court held that the FBI's brief sting operation involving the PlayPen website fell short of the boundaries of outrageous conduct in United States v. Tobias, 662 F.2d 381 (5th Cir. Unit B Nov. 1981), and did not violate fundamental fairness.
Furthermore, law enforcement officials involved in the issuance and execution of the Network Investigative Technique (NIT) warrant acted with an objectively reasonable good faith belief that their conduct was lawful. Therefore, the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to suppress. Finally, the evidence was sufficient to convict defendant on both counts, and the district court did not clearly err by applying the obstruction of justice sentencing enhancement under USSG 3C1.1.
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