Opinion ID: 1697438
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Did the State Present Sufficient Circumstantial Evidence of a Violation of the Statute?

Text: Applying our holdings that neither direct evidence nor evidence of a specific agreement is required to establish a violation of the statute, we conclude that competent, substantial evidence supports Castillo's conviction in this case. The evidence shows that Castillo, a uniformed officer in a marked patrol car, stopped A.S. while she was exceeding the speed limit. He recognized her intoxicated state when he remarked, after she stumbled, that [t]he party must have been good. He required A.S. to follow him to the nearby deserted restaurant parking lot where he was very friendly while they spoke. He smelled alcohol on her breath. He then required A.S. to follow him again, this time to a deserted warehouse area where he initiated and had intercourse with her. Afterwards, he told her she was lucky he did not ticket her, and he permitted her to leave. Castillo not only did not report his contact with A.S., but he misrepresented his activities during this almost hour-long period as official duties. Thus, the evidence of the officer's words and actions demonstrated his understanding that A.S. was violating the law when he stopped her, and his releasing A.S. without legal consequence after having sex with her demonstrates his corrupt intent in soliciting an unlawful quid pro quo. The district court's conclusion that if Castillo thought that A.S. followed him to the warehouse voluntarily, then Castillo did not violate the statute, is groundless for two reasons. First, the evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the jury verdict, was that he required her to follow him. Second, as we explained above, the other participant's state of mind is irrelevant; it is the public servant's state of mind that matters. Although an agreement may be sufficient to prove a violation, it is not necessary. Accordingly, whether Castillo thought or believed A.S.'s actions were voluntary or whether her actions were in fact voluntary is irrelevant. Castillo demonstrated the causal relationship of his actions when he told A.S., after having intercourse with her, that she was lucky he did not give her a ticket. Thus, the competent, substantial evidence in this case demonstrates that Castillo acted with corrupt intent in accepting an unauthorized benefit  sex  in exchange for his exercising his discretion not to issue a traffic citation.