Volume 2007, Issue 1

CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE DAILY NEWS AND CASE UPDATES

ITEMS OF SPECIAL INTEREST

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Announces Creation of Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit Within the Civil Rights Division
PR Newswire, 1.31.2007

DOJ Fact Sheet: Civil Rights Division Efforts to Combat Modern-Day Slavery
PR Newswire, 1.31.2007

Teen Sex Slave Trade Hits Home
ABC, 1.30.2007
The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that between 100,000 and 3 million American kids under age 18 are involved in prostitution and they're often targeted by sexual predators.

‘Crack For The Eyes’: EMU Speaker Discusses Science Of Porn
DNR Online, Heather Bowser, 1.27.2007

Undisciplined Sexuality Fuels Pornography Industry
Christian Post, Audrey Barrick, 12.15.2006
What has minimized child pornography in the past is now obliterated by the more than 100,000 child porn websites that the U.S. Customs Service currently estimates is fueling a multibillion-dollar industry . . . Several studies have indicated that pornography is related to greater involvement in deviant sexual practice. Among child molesters incited, 77 percent of those who molested boys and 87 percent of those who molested girls admitted to habitual use of pornography in the commission of their crimes, cited an online network ProtectKids.com

CASES

United States v. Evans, No. 06-10907 (11th Cir. Jan. 30, 2007)
Encouraging prostitution by a minor is a prosecutable offense under federal law even where the underlying conduct was purely local.

US v. Shaffer, No. 06-3145 (10th Cir. January 03, 2007)
Conviction for distribution of child pornography is upheld where files are shared on a peer-to-peer computer network.

Missouri Association of Club Executives, Inc., et al., v. State of Missouri, SC78154 (Mo. Dec. 19, 2006)
Amendment of a bill to include regulation of sexually oriented businesses is stricken as a violation of a state constitutional provision prohibiting amendment to a bill's original purpose.

CASES

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United States v. Evans, No. 06-10907 (11th Cir. Jan. 30, 2007)

Encouraging prostitution by a minor is a prosecutable offense under federal law even where the underlying conduct was purely local.

Acting as a pimp over a fourteen year old girl, Justin Evans was charged with encouraging a minor to engage in a commercial sex act in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1) and encouraging a minor to engage in prostitution in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2422(b). The prostitution activities were purely local, but Evans communicated with the girl by cell phone and gave her condoms that were made in a foreign country. The prostitution continued even after the girl was diagnosed with AIDS. The district court refused to dismiss the indictment. Evans appealed alleging that the indictment should be dismissed, because the jurisdictional interstate-commerce elements of the offenses were absent.

The court of appeals rejected Evans’ arguments holding that Congress has authority to regular purely intrastate conduct pursuant to a comprehensive regulatory scheme designed to regulate interstate commerce. See, Gonzales v. Rach, 545 U.S. 1 (2005) United States v. Maxwell, 446 F.3d 1210 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 705 (2006); United States v. Smith, 459 F.3d 1276 (11th Cir. 2006). The court observed that § 1591 (a)(1) was enacted as part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. Pub. L. No. 106-386, 114 Stat. 1464 (codified as amended in scattered titles of U.S.C.). The court also observed that a cell phone is an instrumentality of interstate commerce and that provided additional grounds for jurisdiction.

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US v. Shaffer, No. 06-3145 (10th Cir. January 03, 2007)

Conviction for distribution of child pornography is upheld where files are shared on a peer-to-peer computer network.

Conviction for distribution and possession of child pornography pursuant to provisions in 18 U.S.C. § 2252A is affirmed where Shaffer claimed that he did not, as a matter of law or fact, "distribute" child pornography when he downloaded images and videos from a peer-to-peer computer network, Kazaa, and stored them in a shared folder on his computer accessible by other users of the network. The court observed: "we have little difficulty in concluding that Mr. Shaffer distributed child pornography in the sense of having 'delivered,' 'transferred,' 'dispersed,' or 'dispensed' it to others. He may not have actively pushed pornography on Kazaa users, but he freely allowed them access to his computerized stash of images and videos and openly invited them to take, or download, those items."

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Missouri Association of Club Executives, Inc., et al., v. State of Missouri, SC78154 (Mo. Dec. 19, 2006) (official summary prepared by Court’s counsel)

Amendment of a bill to include regulation of sexually oriented businesses is stricken as a violation of a state constitutional provision prohibiting amendment to a bill's original purpose.

When House Bill No. 972 first was introduced on April 1, 2005, the purpose stated in its title was to repeal three sections and to enact four new sections relating to "intoxication-related traffic offenses." The stated purpose of the bill's second version, which the house of representatives passed May 3, was to repeal two sections and to enact three new sections relating to "intoxication-related traffic offenses." The title of the bill's third version, which was passed out of a senate committee May 10, was to repeal four sections and to enact four new sections relating to "alcohol-related offenses." This third version added sections relating to the sale of alcohol to minors, voluntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. On May 12 – the day before the legislative session ended – the bill was amended again. The title of the bill's fourth version was to repeal six sections and to enact 13 new sections relating to "crime." Of these new sections, only six originated from some earlier version of the bill, while the other seven were new and were unrelated to traffic or alcohol offenses. Of these new provisions, three purported to regulate the adult entertainment industry: section 67.2540 would define terms ranging from "adult cabaret" to "sexually-oriented materials;" section 67.2546 would prohibit private viewing rooms in adult entertainment establishments; and section 67.2552 would prohibit nudity and certain sexual activities in such establishments. The legislature passed this fourth and final version of HB 972 on its last day of session. Missouri Association of Club Executives, Inc., subsequently challenged the constitutional validity of the three provisions relating to the entertainment industry. The circuit court declared the challenged provisions to be invalid, unenforceable and severed from the remainder of HB 972. The state appeals.

AFFIRMED.

Court en banc holds: HB 972 violates article III, section 21 of the state constitution, which prohibits amendments to a bill's original purpose. The original – or general – purpose of a bill is measured at the time the bill is introduced and restricts the subsequent addition of matter that is not germane to the object of the legislation or that is unrelated to its original subject. The original purpose of HB 972, at the time it was introduced, was to repeal and replace certain statutes involving alcohol-related traffic offenses. Subsequent revisions including certain alcohol offenses not related to traffic offenses, such as the sale of alcohol to minors, could be viewed as logically connected and germane to the bill's original purpose. The three provisions regulating adult entertainment that were added to the bill's fourth version the day before session ended were not remotely within the bill's original purpose. Rather, their addition constitutes the legislative logrolling that section 21 is intended to prevent and, therefore, is invalid. Severing these three invalid sections from HB 972 will not impact the bill's other provisions. Because the association's original purpose challenge is dispositive, its remaining grounds for appeal need not be addressed.

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