Opinion ID: 807518
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Convicted Conduct

Text: a. Count Three: Attempted Production of Child Pornography Broxmeyer’s conviction for attempted production of child pornography was based on his November 2007 procurement of an image of 17-year-old K.T. posing suggestively in her 6 underwear.1 K.T. testified that, while Broxmeyer served as her field hockey coach, he routinely sent her text messages in which he told her that she was beautiful and had a nice body, which made her feel special. In the course of their electronic communications, Broxmeyer sent K.T. a picture of his penis, and asked her to provide him with sexually explicit images of herself. In one communication admitted into evidence at trial, Broxmeyer told K.T. she could take such pictures in a bathroom using her cell phone, thereafter using the phone to transmit the images to him. K.T. eventually sent Broxmeyer the image of herself in her underwear. Because the image was suggestive, but not sexually explicit, Count Three charged Broxmeyer with attempted, rather than actual, production of child pornography.2 Upon receipt of the underwear picture, Broxmeyer praised K.T.’s effort, but demanded more. When K.T. sent him other non-pornographic images, Broxmeyer rebuked her, stating, “you know that’s not what I was talking about.” Trial Tr. at 255:14–15. 1 In this opinion, we refer to minors who were victims of the crimes of conviction or related conduct by their initials pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1(a)(3). 2 Title 18 U.S.C. § 2256(8)(A) defines “child pornography” to include, inter alia, “any visual depiction . . . of sexually explicit conduct, where . . . the production of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.” “[S]exually explicit conduct” is defined to include, in relevant part, “actual or simulated . . . sexual intercourse,” “masturbation,” and “lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person.” 18 U.S.C. § 2256(2)(A). Title 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), (e), the crime of conviction, prohibits any attempt to employ, use, persuade, induce, entice, or coerce any minor to engage in “any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct.” 7 Eventually, in December 2007, K.T. sent Broxmeyer a pornographic picture in which she appeared nude, inserting a finger into her vagina. b. Count Five: Possession of Child Pornography K.T.’s aforementioned pictures were among dozens of nude and semi-nude images of adolescent females found in Broxmeyer’s possession when law enforcement officers seized his online photo album and two personal computers. Among the images qualifying as child pornography were two depicting 17-year-old A.W., another field hockey player coached by Broxmeyer. In one, the girl is shown inserting a finger into her vagina; in the other she sprays water from a hand-held shower head toward her nude genital area.3 Broxmeyer had met A.W. in 2005 when, at age 15, she attended a field hockey camp at which he was coaching. Broxmeyer began flirting with the girl and, by 2007, had engaged her in sexual relations not only in New York, but also in California when he escorted the field hockey team on which A.W. played to a competition in that state.4 Broxmeyer and 3 The government offered these two images not only to prove the possession crime charged in Count Five, but also the production of child pornography charged in Counts One and Two. In reversing these production counts, this court pointed to the lack of record evidence that Broxmeyer ever “expressly asked A.W. to send him pictures of herself.” United States v. Broxmeyer, 616 F.3d at 124. No such sufficiency concern pertains to the possession count of conviction. 4 Because the dissent frequently references the age of consent as reflected in state statutory rape laws, see Jacobs, C.J., Op., post at 1, 5, 7–8, 19, we note that, at 17, A.W. was of age to consent to sexual relations under New York law, see N.Y. Penal Law § 130.05(3) (2007), but not under California law, see Cal. Penal Code § 261.5. More to the point for purposes of the counts of conviction, even at 17, A.W. and K.T. remained within the age of minority under controlling federal child pornography law. See 18 U.S.C. § 2256(1) (defining 8 A.W. sometimes used cell phones to photograph themselves engaged in sexual acts. Broxmeyer also sent A.W. lewd and pornographic images of other teenage field hockey players, including the underwear and vagina images he had received from K.T. He challenged A.W. to obtain such images of other field hockey players for him, which A.W. did on several occasions. 2. Trial Evidence of Broxmeyer’s Criminal Sexual Assault of 15-Year-Old K.M. In reversing Broxmeyer’s conviction on Count Four, this court identified no sufficiency problem in the evidence that Broxmeyer intended to—and did—engage a 15year- old field hockey player, K.M., in criminal sexual activity, specifically, sodomy.5 The court concluded only that the evidence was insufficient to satisfy federal jurisdiction because the sodomy occurred before rather than after Broxmeyer took the girl across a state line. See United States v. Broxmeyer, 616 F.3d at 128–30; see also 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a). In these circumstances, although the proved sodomy could not qualify on remand as convicted conduct, it could still be considered in the district court’s Guidelines calculation and in its ultimate determination of sentence under § 3553(a). Accordingly, we summarize this evidence here. “minor” to mean “any person under the age of eighteen years”). 5 There is no question that, at 15, K.M. was not of age to consent to such sexual conduct with Broxmeyer. See N.Y. Penal Law § 130.05(3) (2007). 9 Beginning in September 2007, K.M.’s parents arranged for their daughter to travel on weekends from her home in Pennsylvania to New York or New Jersey to attend field hockey practices conducted by Broxmeyer. When, in early December 2007, a scheduling problem arose with respect to transporting K.M. home after a weekend practice in New York, Broxmeyer advised the girl’s parents that he himself would drive their daughter back to Pennsylvania. On December 9, 2007, at the outset of the return trip, Broxmeyer stopped in Johnson City, New York, at a community sports center that he managed called the Sportsplex and insisted that K.M. accompany him inside. There, Broxmeyer grabbed the girl, began kissing her, and removed his pants. Broxmeyer made K.M. sit in a chair, and holding the girl’s head in his hand, had her perform oral sex on him. Broxmeyer then drove K.M. home, admonishing her never to tell anyone what had happened, an instruction the girl followed until she heard of Broxmeyer’s arrest later in December, whereupon she told her parents of the sexual assault. Law enforcement authorities contacted K.M. and her family after learning of the assault from a New York field hockey player, J.B., in whom K.M. had confided. When investigators interviewed K.M., she revealed that her sexual assault had a familiar prelude: Broxmeyer had sent the girl a picture of his penis, solicited sexually explicit images of her in return, and engaged the girl in sexually explicit text messages, which in fact continued after the assault. 10 3. Broxmeyer’s Sexual Assaults on Other Teenagers The PSR detailed numerous other sexual assaults by Broxmeyer on teenage field hockey players.
The PSR reported that K.T., the same 17-year-old whose transmittal of a suggestive underwear picture supported defendant’s Count Three conviction for attempted production of child pornography, see supra Part I.A.1.a, claimed that Broxmeyer had raped her at the Sportsplex on the night of December 21, 2007. The girl reported the assault that same night when she went with her parents to a Binghamton hospital to seek treatment. There, she told police that, earlier that day, she had asked Broxmeyer to pick her and a friend up at a local mall.6 Broxmeyer took K.T. and her friend J.B., another 17-year-old field hockey player, to the Sportsplex, the site of the assault on K.M. a few weeks earlier, claiming he had work to do there. Soon after their arrival, Broxmeyer started tickling K.T. and tried to remove her pants. K.T. protested that she was not consenting to any sexual activity and threatened to report Broxmeyer to the police. Broxmeyer persisted, ultimately penetrating K.T.’s vagina 6 Text messages made a part of the sentencing record by Broxmeyer show that he and K.T. had exchanged a number of sexually suggestive communications throughout the day of the assault, including a message in which Broxmeyer proposed playing “naked fh [i.e., “field hockey”]” at the Sportsplex. In other communications earlier that day with a teacher who urged K.T. to report Broxmeyer’s misconduct to authorities, K.T. had already referred to Broxmeyer as a “raper,” stating that she did intend to report him, but not right away, as she needed his help obtaining a college scholarship to play field hockey. 11 with his penis.7 According to K.T., the assault ended when she bit Broxmeyer and kicked him in the groin. Nevertheless, K.T. and her friend allowed Broxmeyer to take them home, and soon after, Broxmeyer sent K.T. repeated apologetic text messages.8 When police questioned Broxmeyer in the early hours of the next morning, he admitted being at the Sportsplex the night before with K.T. and J.B. and to tickling K.T. He denied ever having any sexual contact with K.T., or any other girls, although he admitted sending K.T. nude pictures of himself and receiving pictures from her in return. In fact, Broxmeyer subsequently acknowledged other sexual activity with K.T., but maintained that it was consensual. That other activity, which K.T. had already disclosed in her December 22 police interview, occurred on December 7, 2007. K.T. told police that on that day Broxmeyer had invited her and J.B. to his apartment, purportedly to discuss college. There, Broxmeyer took K.T. into his bedroom, where, after kissing and fondling the girl, he took off his pants and had K.T. stimulate him with her hand until he ejaculated.9 7 A forensic examination performed on December 21 found traces of Broxmeyer’s semen on K.T.’s belt buckle, but not in her vagina. Broxmeyer’s saliva was also found in the girl’s ear. 8 In a 9:51 p.m. message, Broxmeyer told K.T., “Sorry if you are mad that is th[e] last thing I wanted.” A minute later, he wrote, “I would never knowing[ly] do something to hurt you[.] I really thought we were just playing again[.] I am really sorry.” At 9:55, Broxmeyer sent a message stating, “Just tell me you don’t have [i.e., “hate”] me please.” 9 At sentencing, Broxmeyer’s counsel suggested that the undeniable presence of defendant’s semen on K.T.’s belt buckle on December 21 was attributable to this incident two weeks earlier. 12
On December 23, 2007, police questioned J.B., who corroborated elements of K.T.’s account of the events of December 21, but stated that she had not seen the reported assault—purportedly because she had her eyes closed—although K.T. had told her of its occurrence. Nevertheless, J.B. advised police that she had herself been a victim of Broxmeyer’s assaults as had other teenage girls. Specifically, J.B. stated that sometime in November 2007, she had been at Broxmeyer’s apartment watching a movie with his girlfriend. While driving J.B. home, Broxmeyer stopped his car and started moving his hand up the girl’s leg, teasing her by saying “chicken.” The girl told him to stop and refused Broxmeyer’s instruction to undo her belt buckle. At that point, he drove her home. Although J.B. purported to be frightened by the November encounter, on December 1, 2007, she returned to Broxmeyer’s apartment to watch another movie, this time in the company of her 17-year-old friend J.C. During the movie, Broxmeyer led J.C. by the hand into his bedroom. J.C. emerged a short time later with a shocked look on her face, prompting J.B. to ask what had happened. Broxmeyer said he would show J.B., and proceeded to lead her into the bedroom, where he had forcible sexual intercourse with her. The next day, J.C. told J.B. that Broxmeyer had similarly assaulted her. Asked if she knew of any other minors whom Broxmeyer had sexually abused, J.B. identified K.M., a disclosure that, as noted earlier, led investigators to locate K.M. in 13 Pennsylvania, resulting in her testifying against Broxmeyer at trial with respect to Count Four.
Investigators also subsequently interviewed J.C., who confirmed being at Broxmeyer’s apartment with J.B. on December 1, 2007. She stated that, after Broxmeyer took her into a bedroom, he removed her pants and, over her protests, had sexual intercourse with her. He then instructed her not to tell anyone about what had occurred.
Similarly, police interviewed M.G., a girl whom A.W. had identified as the person depicted in a suggestive photograph that Broxmeyer had shown her. M.G. testified at trial that Broxmeyer had been the coach of her club field hockey team for high-school age girls, during which time, he repeatedly flattered her appearance, sent her a photograph of his penis, and badgered her to send him “sexy” photographs of herself. Trial Tr. at 121:8. Eventually, M.G., who was 17 at the time, sent him a photograph of herself clad in underwear which Broxmeyer later showed to A.W. M.G. further testified that on one occasion when Broxmeyer had driven her home from a field hockey practice, he had stopped his car and sexually assaulted her by putting his finger inside her vagina. 14
After Broxmeyer’s 2007 arrest, an adult woman identified in the PSR only as M.L. came forward and reported to investigators that some 15 years earlier, in 1991–92, when she was a 13-year-old field hockey player, defendant had subjected her to three escalating sexual assaults. On the first occasion, when the girl was in Broxmeyer’s car, he ran his hand up her thigh and said “chicken” before putting his hand into her pants and fondling her. On the second occasion, Broxmeyer forced the girl to perform oral sex on him. Finally, after a school dance in February 1992, Broxmeyer got the girl intoxicated and had sexual intercourse with her, after which he told her not to tell anyone as he could go to jail.