United States v. Fortier, No. 18-3517 (8th Cir. 2020)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for two counts of child pornography. The court held that the government met its specific-intent requirement by providing sufficient proof that one of defendant's "dominant purposes" was to create a visual depiction of his sexual acts with the victims. The court also held that there was no error in allowing defendant's ex-girlfriend to testify that he recorded them having sex too, and that she was 17 years old and in high school when they started dating. Furthermore, there was no error in allowing an FBI task force officer to describe some of the videos and photos from defendant's collection. Finally, defendant's argument -- that his conduct was beyond the reach of Congress to regulate under the Commerce Clause because every action he took was in Minnesota and neither he nor the images crossed state lines -- was foreclosed by precedent.
Court Description: [Stras, Author, with Loken and Grasz, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The specific intent requirement of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2251(a) was met because the government produced sufficient proof that one of defendant's dominant purposes for sexually exploiting the minor victims was to create a visual depiction of his sexual acts with them; no error in admitting evidence defendant recorded his sex acts with his girlfriend; no error in admitting testimony the girlfriend was 17 when they began dating and no error in permitting an FBI task-force officer to describe images found on defendant's phone as child erotica and age difficult; argument that defendant's conduct was beyond the reach of Congress to regulate under the Commerce Clause rejected based on prior precedents.
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