State of Maine v. Ricky Whitney, 319 A.3d 1072

Ricky Whitney was convicted after a bench trial of sexual exploitation of a minor under 17-A M.R.S. § 282(1)(A), relating to Facebook messages sent to the minor.
Whitney had previously been in a relationship with the minor's mother; the minor was under 16 years old.
Whitney solicited the minor for a photo in shorts, after which the minor's mother took over messaging, with the minor's participation limited.
Whitney sent further messages soliciting sexually explicit conduct, but the court found the minor did not see these later messages beyond a reasonable doubt.
The trial court nonetheless convicted Whitney, ruling it was not necessary for the minor to actually receive the solicitation.
Whitney appealed, arguing insufficient evidence since the minor did not receive the solicitations for explicit conduct.

Issue	Whitney's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether conviction under § 282(1)(A) requires the minor to actually receive the solicitation	Actual receipt by a minor is required for conviction	Defendant's intent to solicit a minor suffices, regardless of whether the solicitation was received	Conviction requires actual minor to receive solicitation; insufficient evidence since court could not find this beyond reasonable doubt
Whether intent or belief about minor’s age is sufficient	Defendant must solicit an actual minor, not just believe recipient is a minor	Intent/belief about minor’s age is enough	Statute requires solicitation of an actual minor, not just belief or intent
Whether an attempt conviction should be entered when evidence supports all attempt elements	Complete acquittal since attempt was not charged or argued	Modify conviction to attempt as attempt is automatically charged and facts support it	Declined to enter conviction for attempt on appeal; adherence to party-presentation principle
Whether sending explicit messages to a phone under parental control suffices for exploitation	Parental participation broke legal chain; no crime occurred if minor did not receive solicitation	Solicitation sent with intent to minor is enough, even if minor didn’t receive	Receiving the solicitation by an actual minor is necessary; judgment vacated

State v. Wilson, 2015 ME 148 (discusses standard for findings of fact supported by evidence)
State v. Keaten, 390 A.2d 1043 (culpable mental state irrelevant to age in sex crimes against minors)
State v. Lowden, 2014 ME 29 (rules regarding lesser included offenses and attempt)
State v. MacNamara, 345 A.2d 509 (attempt is not a lesser included of principal offense)
State v. O’Farrell, 355 A.2d 396 (distinction between attempt and principal crime)
State v. Barlow, 320 A.2d 895 (party-presentation principle on appeal)