Opinion ID: 180249
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: This court reviews the sufficiency of the evidence presented at trial de novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict and drawing all reasonable inferences in the government's favor. United States v. Coleman, 584 F.3d 1121, 1125 (8th Cir.2009), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 1752, 176 L.Ed.2d 222 (2010). We find that sufficient evidence exists to support Hoffman's conviction. [I]f after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The standard for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is strict, and a guilty verdict should not be lightly overturned. We view the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict, giving the verdict the benefit of all reasonable inferences, and [we] will reverse only if the jury must have had a reasonable doubt concerning one of the essential elements of the crime. United States v. Dugan, 238 F.3d 1041, 1043 (8th Cir.2001) (second and third alterations in original) (internal quotations omitted). The statutory antecedents of the current Mann Act were enacted to outlaw the use of interstate commerce as a calculated means for effectuating sexual immorality, and date back to the early part of the twentieth century. Mortensen v. United States, 322 U.S. 369, 375, 64 S.Ct. 1037, 88 L.Ed. 1331 (1944), United States v. Vang, 128 F.3d 1065, 1069 (7th Cir.1997). Under its current version, § 2423(a) states: A person who knowingly transports an individual who has not attained the age of 18 years in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any commonwealth, territory or possession of the United States, with intent that the individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense,[ [2] ] shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than 10 years or for life. In the instant case, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, Hoffman's intention that these girls engage in illegal sexual conduct was a dominant motive of their interstate travel. Even in the instances when Hoffman did not travel with the girls, the evidence supports the conclusion that he directed their return to Arkansas so that he could resume his sexual activity with them. This is not a case, warned of by the Court in Mortensen so many years ago, and hypothesized about by Hoffman, of an immoral person merely traveling from place to place indulging in illegal or immoral acts incidentally. Mortensen, 322 U.S. at 376, 64 S.Ct. 1037. The evidence here clearly demonstrated that in each instance Hoffman directed the travel and transport of these girls across state lines for the purpose of engaging in proscribed sexual acts, thus supporting the jury's conviction on each and every charge. In United States v. Broxmeyer, 616 F.3d 120 (2d Cir.2010), a case relied upon by Hoffman at oral argument to bolster his argument that sex was merely incidental to these trips, the court reversed a § 2423(a) conviction because the mens rea of intent did not coincide with the actus reus of crossing state lines. 616 F.3d at 129. There, a hockey coach entered into a sexual relationship with a fifteen-year-old player. Relevant to the § 2423(a) violation, the coach drove the girl from New York to her home in Pennsylvania one Sunday following practice and had sex with her before leaving New York. On those facts, the actus reus and mens rea did not coincide. Id. at 127-30. Unlike Broxmeyer, however, the evidence in the instant case supports the jury's conclusion that at all times Hoffman's intent in transporting these girls across state lines was for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual activity. As to Hoffman's intent, we have held that [t]he illicit behavior must be one of the purposes motivating ... the interstate transportation [of the minor], but need not be the dominant purpose. United States v. Cole, 262 F.3d 704, 709 (8th Cir.2001) (internal quotation omitted). The sexual activity just may not be merely incidental to the trip. Id. Indeed, the jury instructions, which Hoffman does not challenge on appeal, accurately reflect the required determination. In particular, jury instruction 12 stated: It is not necessary for the government to prove that illicit sexual activity was the only, or sole, purpose for transporting the minor across state lines. However, the government must prove that sexual activity with the minor, which is prohibited by law, was a dominant motive of the travel. In determining whether the government has met its burden, you should keep in mind that a person may have several different motives or reasons for doing a particular act such as traveling and all such reasons may, in varying degrees, prompt the act. It is the purpose for the transportation of the minor that is our focus under the Mann Act, not per se a defendant's reasons for travel generally. That a defendant facing charges under § 2423(a) need not have even traveled at all further supports this fact. In his brief, Hoffman views the standard through a different lens and argues, erroneously, that it requires proof that the illegal conduct was a dominant purpose of the trip, generally. He claims, that at best, sex was merely incidental to each of the out-of-state trips, and not a dominant purpose of the trip. Our focus, however, is on Hoffman's intent in having these girls transported across state lines. Hoffman concedes that the proof is admittedly stronger as to certain of the ten convictions under the Mann Act in this case. But, Hoffman argues that there is no basis for a Mann Act conviction for others of these girls based upon the evidence presented. There were trips, he claims, where the record is singularly devoid of evidence of sex in relation to the trip at all, and all that the government proved was that Hoffman was having sex during that time period with that minor and that she took a trip. Additionally, despite Hoffman's arguments that the girls' return travel to Arkansas does not support Mann Act violations in this case, the return journey can be considered apart from its integral relation with the round trip as a whole, in the determination whether a violation of the Act has occurred. [3] Mortensen, 322 U.S. at 375, 64 S.Ct. 1037. Indeed, we have held that the illicit intent must [be] formed only before the conclusion of the interstate state [sic] journey. Cole, 262 F.3d at 708 (second alteration in original) (internal quotation omitted). As one example of the failure of proof, Hoffman highlights the testimony of Jane Doe # 3. Her testimony revealed that she became Hoffman's wife at the age of fourteen. Before Hoffman would consummate the marriage, however, he directed the girl to travel to Oklahoma so that she could placate her father, who had misgivings about her residing with Hoffman and had threatened to contact the FBI. Hoffman told Jane Doe # 3 that he did not want to have sexual intercourse with her before the trip for fear that while in Oklahoma, someone might take her to a doctor and discover she was no longer a virgin. Jane Doe # 3 was in Oklahoma until Hoffman directed that she return. Hoffman engaged in sexual intercourse with this girl the day she returned to Arkansas. Hoffman claims the evidence is sketchy, at best, regarding the Mann Act violation on these facts, especially since Jane Doe # 3 traveled to be with her family and Hoffman did not accompany her. Yet, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence wholly belies this assertion and supports the conviction because Hoffman transported Jane Doe #3 from Oklahoma to Arkansas so that he could have sex with her. In this case, the evidence amply supports the jury's determination that Hoffman intended to have sex with these girls and that he transported them across state lines for that purpose. In fact, the inference easily gleaned from the evidence is that there was no other purpose for the girls to be on the trip at all except to service Hoffman. It is disingenuous to suggest that Hoffman's intentions for these minor girls' transportation across state lines was for any purpose other than their sexual exploitation. He orchestrated and controlled their travel through interstate commerce so that they would be available to him to engage in illegal sexual relations. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, the jury's verdict that Hoffman knowingly transported these minors in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in sexual activity prohibited by law was reasonable. We therefore affirm the verdict.