State v. HazlettState v. Hazlett
¶ 1 In this opinion we consider the constitutionality of Arizona’s statutes dealing with sexual exploitation of children, Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) sections 13-3551,
et seq.
(Supp.2002), which prohibit, among other conduct, the creation and possession of material commonly referred to as child pornography. The trial court dismissed the indictments in each of the four appealed cases, finding that
I.
¶ 2 Brian Kelly Hazlett, Sanford Goldstein, Jim A. Tiegs, and Steve Ross Gunter (defendants) were separately indicted on multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, each a class 2 felony and dangerous crime against children, in violation of
¶ 3 The State filed timely notices of appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Ariz. const, art. VI, § 9 and
II.
¶4 The State argues that the trial court erred in ruling that
A.
¶ 5 As a preliminary matter, we reject the State’s contention that defendants should be precluded from challenging the constitutionality of
B.
¶ 6 The trial court relied on the recent decision in
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition,
C.
¶ 7 Defendants argued in them motions to dismiss, and the trial court agreed, that
¶ 8 The primary rule of statutory construction is to give effect to the intent of the legislature.
State v. Korzep,
¶ 9 The offense of “sexual exploitation of a minor” is set forth in
A person commits sexual exploitation of a minor by knowingly:
1. Recording, filming, photographing, developing or duplicating any visual depiction in which a minor is engaged in exploitive exhibition or other sexual conduct.
2. Distributing, transporting, exhibiting, receiving, selling, purchasing, electronically transmitting, possessing or exchanging any visual depiction in which a minor is engaged in exploitive exhibition or other sexual conduct.
The term “minor” is defined in
¶ 10 In dismissing the indictment in
State v. Hazlett,
CR 2002-005175, basing its decision on
State v. Stone,
7
the trial court ruled that the absence of limiting language in
¶ 11
D.
¶ 13 The trial court offered five reasons beyond the specific language of the statute for finding that the legislature intended to extend the scope of
¶ 14 First, the trial court found that the stated legislative purpose for the enactment of the Sexual Exploitation of Children statutes included the following: 1978 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 200, § 2 (emphasis added). In assuming that this particular finding was the impetus for enacting
A. The State of Arizona finds that:
4. The production and sale of materials in which the participants are represented
as minors, even though in fact they are not, is dangerous to children since it may lead to a prurient interest in children as sexual objects and thus be a part of the sexual exploitation of children.
A. It is unlawful for any person depicted in a visual depiction or live act as a participant in any exploitative exhibition or sexual conduct to masquerade as a minor.
B. It is unlawful for any person knowingly to produce, record, film, photograph, develop, duplicate, distribute, transport, exhibit, electronically transmit, sell, purchase or exchange any visual depiction whose text, title or visual representation depicts a participant in any exploitive exhibition or sexual conduct as a minor even though such participant is an adult.
C. Any person who violates this section is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.
¶ 15 Given that
¶ 16 Second, the trial court found legislative intent to criminalize the depiction of minors under
In a prosecution relating to the sexual exploitation of children, the trier of fact may draw the inference that a participant is a minor if the visual depiction or live act through its title, text, or visual representation depicts the participant as a minor.
¶ 17 The language employed in this statute actually supports the opposite conclusion from that reached by the trial court in that the term “participant” implies the existence of an actual person as opposed to a fictitious character. By permitting an inference that the participant in the depicted conduct is a minor, the legislature re-enforced that its intent at least in
¶ 18 Third, the trial court commented on the severity of the penalty imposed for a violation of
¶ 19 The severity of punishment, however, is immaterial to a determination of whether a statute is constitutionally over-broad.
11
As the Supreme Court observed in
Free Speech Coalition,
“even minor punishments can chill free speech.”
¶ 20 Fourth, the trial court held that because of the breadth of the term “visual depiction,” it was possible for a mere painting or image created on a computer screen to be punishable regardless of whether an actual child was involved in the depicted conduct. We do not so read the statute. As the Supreme Court observed in
Free Speech Coalition,
the phase “ ‘any visual depiction’ does not depend at all on how the image is produced” and thus captures within its scope a wide range of depictions.
¶ 21 Fifth, in dismissing the indictments in three of these consolidated cases, the trial court focused on the term “simulated” in the definitions of “exploitive exhibition” and “sexual conduct” to hold
¶ 22 While
E.
¶ 23 The defendants also contend that the broad definitions of
¶24 We need not expand on that concern here for several reasons. First, the fact that a statute may in a case be applied to serious literary, artistic, scientific or educational materials does not require that the statute be held facially invalid.
See Osborne v. Ohio,
¶25 Second, as a matter of public policy and judicial restraint we will not assume without more that the state is or will seek to prosecute such types of materials under
¶ 26 Third, given the state of the record, we do not know if the materials at issue here could arguably fall within any definition of having serious literary, artistic, scientific or educational value.
See State v. Tocco,
¶ 27 Fourth, both the statute at issue and prior Arizona case law have attempted to deal with this issue. A statute is to be read and applied in accordance with any special statutory definitions of the terms it uses.
US West Communications, Inc. v. City of Tucson,
¶28 Of equal import, the United States Supreme Court, this Court and other courts have emphasized that under these types of statutes, the material, at a minimum, must be lewd and lascivious.
Osborne, id.,
III.
¶ 29 The terms “minor” and “simulated” as employed in
Notes
. Since the issues and decisions in each of these consolidated cases are essentially identical, we will refer to the trial courts and the decisions below in the singular except where necessary.
. The ruling by Judge Gerst in Hazlett was based on his prior ruling in State v. Stone, CR 2001-017210 (Superior Court in and for Maricopa County). The decision in Stone is pending appeal in this court.
. "An overbroad statute is one designed to burden or punish activities which are not constitutionally protected, but ... includes within its scope activities which are protected by the First Amendment.”
State v. Baldwin,
. The above definitions applied to a number of statutes criminalizing child pornography.
E.g.,
.
E.g.,
. This court previously upheld the possession aspects of
. See n. 2, supra.
.
E.g., Free Speech Coalition,
. However, because
. However, as with
We note that in
Hazlett
the State suggested that if the trial court was concerned about the effect of § 13-3556, it should hold that statute as unconstitutional but uphold
. We do not address whether the severity of the statutory punishments relating to child pornography are unconstitutional.
.
. Curiously, the defendants phrased their attack below that the statute was unconstitutional as
applied to them, but argued that the statute was facially unconstitutional. The trial court held
.
Osborne,