Opinion ID: 720552
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: 35 Sirois challenges the sufficiency of the evidence adduced to show (1) that Booth specifically intended to bring a minor to Lake Placid to be photographed while engaging in sexual activity, and (2) that Sirois had knowledge of Booth's intent. First, Sirois argues that no evidence supported the jury's implicit finding that Booth had the requisite intent under § 2251(a) that Coupe and Miller engage in ... sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct. (And if Booth did not violate § 2251(a) as a principal, then Sirois cannot be held liable as an aider and abettor.) Second, Sirois claims that there was no adequate showing that he knew of Booth's plans. 36 There was overwhelming evidence that Booth intended to exploit Coupe and Miller sexually at Lake Placid, and there was ample evidence that Sirois had knowledge of Booth's intent. Booth invited Coupe to attend the camping trip right after having sex with him and Sirois in Cape Cod. Booth had a history of exploiting both Coupe and Miller by inviting them out to his home, plying them with alcohol, and then engaging them sexually. Inviting them to camp at an even more remote site, far from their families, fits in perfectly with this pattern of behavior. Finally, and most importantly, Booth (and Sirois) actually had sex with Coupe, Miller, and Barnes on the campout. The jury was entitled to conclude that Booth intended to do exactly what he did. They could also infer that Sirois knew that Booth would be bringing underage boys to the campout, since Booth had previously brought Coupe to have sex with him and Sirois in Cape Cod. Furthermore, it was reasonable to infer that, because Sirois brought Barnes to the campout, Sirois and Booth had a mutual understanding that each would provide an underage boy to have intercourse with the other--as in fact happened. 37 The closer question is whether Booth intended that the sexual activity be photographed and, even if he did, whether Sirois knew of that intent. As the defense points out, the police found no other pornographic photographs at Booth's house. There was no testimony that either Sirois or Booth had ever taken sexual photographs before the Lake Placid trip. Neither Coupe nor Miller testified that Booth had ever showed them photographs of sexual activity or had discussed photographing them. 3 In short, the defense argues that the photography might have been nothing more than a spur-of-the-moment idea. 38 The jurors, if they had chosen, could have accepted the defense's characterization of the photography at the campout. But they did not. And there was sufficient circumstantial evidence to support their decision to accept the government's interpretation of events. The camping trip had been jointly planned by Sirois and Booth; Booth was involved in group sex with the minors while Sirois took photographs; and those photographs were later found at Booth's house. Most importantly, Booth as well as Sirois brought a camera to the campout. It was certainly reasonable for the jury to infer that Sirois and Booth, who had jointly planned the event, had collaborated in their decision to bring photographic equipment. Moreover, the jury could reasonably conclude that both Booth and Sirois had brought their photographic equipment to do precisely what they did: to record sexual activity with underage boys. We conclude that there was enough evidence to support the jury verdict on count one.
39 Sirois claims that there was inadequate evidence that he employed, used, or persuaded the minors to have sex for the purpose of photographing that conduct. 40 As we discussed earlier, a person uses a minor to produce child pornography if the minor serves as the subject of photography. Both Coupe and Miller testified that Sirois was the only one in a position to have taken the photographs found at Booth's house. Even if that were not enough, Coupe testified that during the group sex, Sirois directed the participants to move their sexual activity to different parts of the lean-to, so that he could more easily videotape them. The jury could have readily inferred that Sirois's direction of the activity helped him take the photographs just as much as it helped him take the videotape. There was ample evidence to support Sirois's conviction on count two.3. Count Three 41 Sirois also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence on count three, that he aided and abetted Booth in persuading Miller to travel in interstate commerce to engage in illegal sex with Sirois, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422. 42 Sirois first challenges the consistency of the government's theory of the case. In the indictment and the jury charge, the government treated Sirois as a principal who was aided and abetted by Gary Booth. In the bill of particulars, however, it treated Sirois as the accessory. We believe that any shifting in the government's position was harmless here, since a jury may consider alternate theories of criminal liability. United States v. Concepcion, 983 F.2d 369, 392-93 (2d Cir.1992), cert. denied sub nom. Frias v. United States, 510 U.S. 856, 114 S.Ct. 163, 126 L.Ed.2d 124 (1993). Here, the government put forward both varieties of the aiding-and-abetting theory (Booth as principal and Sirois as accessory, and vice versa) at various stages of the case. And Sirois was on notice, from the inception of the case, that he could be held liable as either a principal or an accessory. Id. (finding no error in the prosecution's argument, first raised at summation, that the jury could convict the defendant as an aider and abettor, where the indictment had cited 18 U.S.C. § 2, which provides for aiding-and-abetting liability). 43 Second, Sirois questions the adequacy of the evidence that he knew of Booth's plans in this regard. We agree with the government that Booth's long-standing pattern bringing young boys to Sirois's house, together with the fact that Booth and Sirois jointly planned the Lake Placid campout, provided enough evidence for the jury to infer that Sirois knew that Booth would bring a young boy to the campout. The jury could also rationally conclude that Sirois intended, as at Cape Cod, to engage in sexual intercourse with the boy whom Booth would bring. That suffices to support his conviction on count three. 4. Count 4 44 Finally, Sirois challenges his conspiracy conviction on the grounds that each of his substantive convictions was flawed. For the reasons already stated, we uphold the jury verdicts on all three counts. Accordingly, we affirm the conspiracy conviction as well.