United States v. Thornhill, No. 18-30046 (9th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for receipt of child pornography. The panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence, under Federal Rule of Evidence 414, of defendant's prior state conviction for sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree. In this case, the term "child molestation" encompassed both the crime for which defendant was previously convicted and the present charge, and the prior conviction was relevant. After applying the balancing factors in the LeMay test, the panel held that the probative value of the evidence substantially outweighed its unfair prejudice. Finally, the district court did not err in rendering this evidentiary decision before it had been presented at trial.
Court Description: Criminal Law. Affirming a conviction for receipt of child pornography, the panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted evidence of the defendant’s prior Alaska state conviction for sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree. The panel held that the prior conviction was within the scope of Fed. R. Evid. 414 because (1) the term “child molestation” encompasses both the crime for which the defendant was previously convicted and the present charge of receiving/possessing child pornography, and (2) the prior conviction was relevant as it tended to prove the defendant’s sexual interest in children and that he used the terms on a handwritten list to knowingly receive the child pornography. Applying the balancing test of Fed. R. Evid. 403 to the Rule 414 evidence, and the factors set forth in United States v. LeMay, 260 F.3d 1018 (9th Cir. 2001), the panel held that the probative value of the prior conviction was not substantially outweighed by its unfair prejudice. With regard to the district court’s finding that the prior conviction was helpful/practically necessary to the government’s case, the panel held that the district court did not err in rendering this evidentiary decision before all testimony had been presented at trial. UNITED STATES V. THORNHILL 3 Concurring, Judge N.R. Smith wrote that the district court and the majority ignored the plain language in LeMay requiring trial judges to reserve judgment as to the necessity of the proffered evidence until after the other testimony has been offered, but that the error is harmless.
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