Opinion ID: 617008
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Exclusion of Nudism Expert and Books Containing Photographs of Nude Families and Children

Text: Russell contends that the district court abused its discretion in precluding him from presenting the testimony of attorney Jawn Bauer, who as noted was counsel to various nudist organizations, and in excluding various published works of photography that he kept in his home and that included photographs of nude families and children. He argues that Bauer's proffered testimony on the practice of nudism in the United States would have corroborated Russell's own testimony on that subject and would have placed his own family's experiences and practices in a broader context. The books, Russell reasons, would have been relevant to the jury's determination of his own motives for photographing his children in the nude and would have given his photographs some context within the broader universe of artistic appreciation for nudes, including nude children, as a long-time subject of photographers. Russell Br. 21. The court did not abuse its discretion in excluding Bauer's testimony. We may assume that Bauer was qualified to testify as an expert on nudism, but as the district court pointed out, [t]his case is not about nudism. R. 74 at 18. Testimony about nudism was arguably relevant only to the extent that it may have helped to explain why Russell photographed his daughters in the nude, why his daughters would have agreed to be photographed by Russell without clothing, and what Russell's purpose was in creating the charged images of his daughters. Frankly, however, we have a difficult time understanding this line of testimony as anything but a red herring. None of the charged photographs were taken at any of the clothing-optional resorts that Russell and his second wife visited with their children, nor did the defense claim that any of those photographs were the sort of candid snapshots of a family member that one might expect to find among the photos of a family that engages in nudism. All of the charged photographs were staged photographs that the defendant directed to some degree, and both girls testified that they would not have been nude but for purposes of the photography sessions Russell initiated. So far as the girls understood, they were posing in the nude as models for photographs that would be posted on their websites along with additional photographs of them fully or partially clothed. Yet Russell himself understood and acknowledged that the nude photographs were not appropriate for posting online. R. 77 at 166. In any case, to the extent nudism was minimally relevant in the ways cited by the defense, the district court gave Russell's attorneys ample latitude to elicit testimony from both Russell and his daughters on the subject. Bauer, on the other hand, could not possibly have spoken to any point relevant to the charges in this case. His generalized testimony about the practice of nudism and the values of nudists would have been of no assistance to the jury in evaluating the circumstances under which Russell took the charged photographs and deciding whether he violated section 2251(a) in doing so. Cf. Frabizio, 459 F.3d at 85 & n. 8 (because the lascivious nature of charged image is something layperson can determine, expert testimony is not required) (citing Arvin, 900 F.2d at 1389-90); United States v. Thoma, 726 F.2d 1191, 1200-01 (7th Cir.1984) (videotapes were sufficient evidence of their own prurient appeal; expert testimony was not required on this point). Nor did the court abuse its discretion in excluding the published works of photography. As to Russell's motives in taking the charged photographs, these works, by photographers other than himself, were irrelevant. Russell's contention that the books would have placed his own photographs within a broader context of artistic documentation of and appreciation for the nude form, including the nude child, suggests that he wished to invite the jury to compare his photographs to the published work of other photographers and to surmise that his photographs, like theirs, had a legitimate artistic purpose and value. Images of children need not be obscene in order to qualify as lascivious, however. See New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 760-61, 102 S.Ct. 3348, 3356-57, 73 L.Ed.2d 1113 (1982). Moreover, as the district court pointed out, simply because other works featuring nude photographs of children have been published does not necessarily mean that those photographs are not lascivious. R. 177 at 132-33. Excluding the published works appropriately kept the trial's focus on the charged photographs and whether they were lascivious.