Opinion ID: 618208
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Defendant’s Admissions

Text: The Sixth Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit have examined convictions for knowing possession of child pornography and have found that admission of guilt is sufficient evidence to sustain the convictions. United States v. Mellies, 329 F. App’x 592, 607 (6th Cir. 2009); United States v. Shiver, 305 F. App’x 640, 643 (11th Cir. 2008). In Mellies, this Court found that an indirect admission of guilt was strong evidence of guilt. 329 F. App’x at 607. In Shiver, the defendant admitted to police that he once possessed a small amount of child pornography but had gotten rid of it, and the court found that this was substantial evidence of his guilt. 305 F. App’x at 643. 8 No. 10-1589 Here, the government offered uncontroverted testimony that Defendant freely and directly admitted to Detective Knoblock that he had child pornography on his computer and had viewed it within the last few days, although he later qualified his admission by stating that the pictures were fake. There was testimony that, when McKichan confronted Defendant about finding images of real child pornography on his computer and on a CD, he admitted that seeing the images aroused him. Other times where McKichan confronted Defendant with owning “child pornography” or “kiddie porn,” he stated that it was none of her business or agreed to destroy the images. A jury could infer that the statements to McKichan were an implicit admission of Defendant’s possession of child pornography, since he did not deny having it when confronted and he exercised control over it. Thus, Defendant explicitly and implicitly confessed to two individuals that he knowingly possessed child pornography.