789 F.3d 903
8th Cir.2015Background
- On Oct. 31, 2011 Shannon Adams took her 16-year-old daughter ("M") to Don Ray Harris’s home; Adams was a customer of Harris’s morphine pills.
- Adams allegedly told Harris beforehand that M would "show her tits" in exchange for two morphine pills; after M exposed her breasts, Harris fondled her, performed oral sex, and took nude photos.
- Police recovered two nude photographs of M from undeveloped film; one photo showed M on her back with a bent knee partially obscuring her genital area.
- A superseding indictment charged Adams with sex trafficking of a minor (18 U.S.C. §1591(a)(1)) and permitting production of child pornography (18 U.S.C. §2251(b)); Harris pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and cooperated against Adams.
- At trial the jury convicted Adams of sex trafficking and acquitted her on the child-pornography production charge; Adams was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment and 5 years’ supervised release.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sufficiency of evidence for 18 U.S.C. §1591(a) sex‑trafficking conviction | Adams: did not knowingly or recklessly cause M to engage in a commercial sex act; expected only that M would expose breasts; pills were given to procure silence, not as payment | Govt: Adams arranged/solicited the encounter and knew or recklessly disregarded that M would be caused to engage in sexual acts in exchange for pills | Affirmed — reasonable jury could infer Adams knew/recklessly disregarded the sex act from phone statements, her conduct at the house, and testimony of Harris and M |
| Pretrial dismissal of child pornography production charge (whether photo depicted lascivious exhibition) | Adams: photo did not show genitals or pubic area; as a matter of law it was not sexually explicit and should have been dismissed pretrial | Govt: whether image was lascivious is a factual question for the jury; photo was relevant to Adams’s knowledge of the sexual transaction | District court’s denial (allowing the photo) — any error harmless; photo was relevant to knowledge and did not prejudice the trafficking verdict |
Key Cases Cited
- United States v. McMurray, 34 F.3d 1405 (8th Cir. 1994) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
- United States v. Mennuti, 639 F.2d 107 (2d Cir. 1981) (addressing pretrial resolution of sufficiency challenges)