United States v. Paul Edward Lee, Jr.United States v. Paul Edward Lee, Jr.
Opinion of the Court
Before LAGOA, BRASHER, and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges.
In 2018, Paul Edward Lee, Jr., was charged with violating
Concurrent with Lee’s acquittal, the government charged Lee with attempting to violate
On appeal, Lee asserts that the district court erred because “§ 2251(d) does not require proof of any fact beyond what is required for a § 2251(a) conviction.” After careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm the district court’s order because
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
A minor, “A.L.,” attended a tutoring session and told her tutor that she had a thirty-eight-year-old “special friend.” The tutor contacted A.L.’s father, and A.L. allegedly told her father that her “special friend” communicated with her via text message, as well as through the messaging features of two mobile applications, and requested sexually explicit images. The cellphone number that the “special friend” used to communicate with A.L. allegedly belonged to Lee.
An investigation ensued, and Special Agent Abbigail Beccaccio of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI“) received A.L’s cellphone during the investigation. While in possession of A.L.’s cellphone, Agent Beccaccio received a text message from the cellphone number at issue. Agent Beccaccio, acting as an FBI online covert employee, pretended to be A.L. and began exchanging messages with that number. In so doing, Agent Beccaccio was asked to send sexually explicit depictions of A.L., including a video of A.L. masturbating.
A. 2018 Indictment & Trial
The government filed a criminal complaint against Lee for “[s]olicitation and advertisement for child pornography” in violation of
Lee’s
The jury found Lee guilty of violating
B. 2020 Indictment
On May 7, 2020—seven days before the district court set aside the jury’s guilty verdict in connection with the 2018 Indictment—the government filed a new criminal complaint against Lee. According to the new criminal complaint, Lee attempted to “employ, use, persuade, induce, entice and coerce a person whom [he] believed to be a minor to engage in . . . sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct” in violation of
Lee moved to dismiss the 2020 Indictment on several grounds including, as relevant to this appeal, that the
The district court denied Lee’s motion to dismiss the indictment. The district court found that “although [Lee] is being tried for the same conduct charged in the 2018 Indictment, [he] is not being tried for the same offense.” For example, the district court
explained that the two offenses are not the same because
On September 14, 2020, Lee filed a notice of interlocutory appeal. This appeal followed.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review de novo the district court’s denial of Lee’s motion to dismiss the 2020 Indictment on double jeopardy grounds. United States v. Mayes, 158 F.3d 1215, 1219 (11th Cir. 1998); United States v. Davis, 854 F.3d 1276, 1286 (11th Cir. 2017) (“We review . . . double jeopardy arguments de novo.“).2
III. ANALYSIS
Lee asserts that the successive charges in the 2018 and 2020 Indictments violate the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy
Clause. Under the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause, no person shall “be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.”
On appeal, we must determine whether the 2020 Indictment amounts to a second prosecution for the same offense. Our analysis is divided into three parts. First, we discuss the applicable test for Lee’s double jeopardy claim. Then, we identify the relevant statutory elements for
A. Double Jeopardy
“Where the same conduct violates two statutory provisions, the first step in the double jeopardy analysis is to determine whether the legislature . . . intended that each violation be a separate offense.” United States v. Cannon, 987 F.3d 924, 939–40 (11th Cir. 2021) (quoting Davis, 854 F.3d at 1286), cert. denied sub nom., Holton v. United States, 142 S. Ct. 283 (2021). “If congressional intent is unclear, we apply the Supreme Court’s test set forth in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932).” Id. at 940.
Because neither Lee nor the government “identifies anything . . . that speaks to Congress’s intent to authorize separate”
punishments for
“[T]he Blockburger test ‘is one of statutory interpretation.’” Davis, 854 F.3d at 1286 (quoting United States v. Williams, 527 F.3d 1235, 1240 (11th Cir. 2008)). It “focuses on the statutory elements of the offense.” Albernaz v. United States, 450 U.S. 333, 338 (1981) (quoting Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 785 n.17 (1975)). “If each [offense] requires proof of a fact that the other does not, the Blockburger test is satisfied, notwithstanding a substantial overlap in the proof offered to establish the crimes.” Id. (quoting Iannelli, 420 U.S. at 785 n.17).
This “strictly elemental analysis applies even where we are presented with” two offenses “based on the same factual” allegations. Hassoun, 476 F.3d at 1186. As we explained in Hassoun:
double jeopardy is not implicated simply because a factual situation might exist where a defendant could commit one act that satisfies the elements of two distinct offenses. As Blockburger counsels, the rub is whether Congress intended that one act be twice subject to punishment. As such, the question we must ask is whether the defendant’s one act must necessarily satisfy the elements of both offenses. In other
words, does a scenario exist where the hypothetical defendant might violate one section without violating the other?
Lee argues that the 2018 Indictment’s
B. Statutory Elements for § 2251(a) & § 2251(d) Offenses
Sections 2251(a) and 2251(d) are separate provisions of the Sexual Exploitation of Children statute. Section 2251(a) is the provision associated with the production of child pornography. See United States v. Ruggiero, 791 F.3d 1281, 1284 (11th Cir. 2015) (“Section 2251(a) is the ‘production’ section of a broad regulatory scheme that prohibits the production, receipt, distribution, and possession of child pornography.“). And
whether these two sections of the Sexual Exploitation of Children Statute are separate offenses.3
1. 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a)
As relevant to the 2020 Indictment, the statutory elements for a
“On its face and as applied in this case,
But
2. 18 U.S.C. § 2251(d)
As relevant to the 2018 Indictment, the statutory elements for a
The actus reus component of
In Caniff II, this Court raised “serious doubts about whether the phrase ‘make[] . . . any notice’ in
C. Sections 2251(a) and 2251(d) Are Not the Same Offense
Having identified the statutory elements of the offenses, we must proceed to discerning “[i]f each [offense] requires proof of a fact that the other does not.” Albernaz, 450 U.S. at 338 (quoting Iannelli, 420 U.S. at 785 n.17). Lee asserts that “proof of persuasion or enticement under [
First, despite the Caniff decisions,
In contrast, the actus reus element of
Because
the elements of both offenses,” and a “hypothetical defendant might violate one
A defendant can also violate
Section 2251(d) is not so limited. For example, a defendant can violate
massive personal libraries of child pornography“), with Tilton, 554 F.3d at 1377 (noting that
Second, in Caniff II, we identified another distinction between
Contrary to Lee’s assertion, the rule of lenity is a “traditional tool[]” for construing the meaning of a criminal statute. Romero v. Sec’y, U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 20 F.4th 1374, 1383 (11th Cir.
2021) (“The rule of lenity is one of the oldest and most traditional tools of statutory interpretation. . . . [It] mandates that penal statutes be construed strictly.“). Consequently, the determination in Caniff II that
Here, the Blockburger test is satisfied, and Lee’s double jeopardy claim fails, because “each [offense] requires proof of a fact that the other does not.” Albernaz, 450 U.S. at 338 (quoting Iannelli, 420 U.S. at 785 n.17); cf. United States v. Overton, 573 F.3d 679, 692 (9th Cir. 2009) (“Because each statutory provision requires proof of an additional fact the other does not, violations of
other.” Hassoun, 476 F.3d at 1189. Indeed, as alleged in the 2020 Indictment, this case presents such a scenario.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated, we conclude that the district court did not err in denying Lee’s motion to dismiss the 2020 Indictment on double jeopardy grounds and therefore affirm the district court.
AFFIRMED.
Notes
[(1)] if such person knows or has reason to know that such visual depiction will be transported or transmitted using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or
affecting interstate or foreign commerce or mailed, [(2)] if that visual depiction was produced or transmitted using materials that have been mailed, shipped, or transported in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, or [(3)] if such visual depiction has actually been transported or transmitted using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or mailed.
According to the 2020 Indictment, Lee used a facility of interstate commerce by communicating via cellphone.
(A) such person knows or has reason to know that such notice or advertisement will be transported using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means including by computer or mailed; or (B) such notice or advertisement is
transported using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means including by computer or mailed.
According to the 2018 Indictment, Lee used a facility of interstate commerce by communicating via cellphone.