Opinion ID: 1447803
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Resolution and Application

Text: Because a dangerous crime against children is defined as one committed against a minor under fifteen years of age, the defendant's conduct must be focused on, directed against, aimed at, or target a victim under the age of fifteen. We do not hold that the statute applies only when the accused targets a victim whom the accused knows is under the age of fifteen. On the contrary, we approve of an earlier holding of the court of appeals that knowledge of the victim's age is unnecessary under the statute. State v. Denning, 155 Ariz. 459, 461, 747 P.2d 620, 622 (App. 1987). When an individual targets a person, he or she generally assumes the risk that the victim will turn out to be within a protected age group. We hold only that the victim must be the person against whom the crime is directed, not that the accused must know that the person is under fifteen. As a practical matter, the question of whether the child victim is the target of the defendant's criminal conduct will rarely be an issue given the nature of the crimes listed in § 13-604.01(K)(1). It is impossible to imagine how sexual assault, molestation, sexual conduct, commercial sexual exploitation, sexual exploitation, child abuse, kidnapping, sexual abuse, taking a child for the purpose of prostitution, child prostitution, and involving or using minors in drug offenses could be committed without targeting persons. The issue we resolve only arises in that rare case when, as here, an enumerated offense can be committed by unfocused actions, whether intentional, knowing or reckless in nature. Applying our holding to this case, the evidence showed that Williams drove his pickup truck in an extremely dangerous and aggressive manner, tailgating and intentionally harassing other drivers and placing everyone around him at risk of injury. But there was no evidence that his behavior was directed at or focused upon the victim, or that he was even aware of the minor's presence in the station wagon. Under these circumstances, Williams has not committed a dangerous crime against children within the meaning of § 13-604.01, and, thus, he may not be sentenced under that statute. This means that the whole panoply of special provisions relating to child predators will not needlessly be applied to him. On the other hand, because the victim in fact was under the age of fifteen, the classification of his felony is automatically enhanced to class 2 under § 13-1204(B). And, the jury having found that the aggravated assault was a dangerous offense under § 13-604, the sentence will be enhanced. [5] Thus, the ultimate penalty may closely approximate that imposed under the dangerous crime against children section. For example, here, the maximum sentence for a dangerous crime against children is 22 years, while the maximum sentence for a class 2 felony, dangerous nature offense, is 21 years. In most cases, therefore, the true significance of our holding will not lie so much in the length of the term imposed as in the applicability of all the special penalty provisions associated with dangerous crimes against children which are expressly calculated to deal with predators of children. [6]