Articles Posted in Sex Crimes

In a recent case before the Arizona Court of Appeals involving sexual assault, the defendant argued that his guilty conviction should be reversed. Originally, the defendant was charged continuous sexual abuse, child molestation, and sexual conduct with a minor. After considering the defendant’s appeal, the higher court ended up affirming the original guilty verdict.

Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, the defendant lived with his wife and two stepdaughters prior to the start of this case. In early 2020, one of the two minor children started acting differently, and her mother asked if anything had been bothering her. At that time, the child said that the defendant had been hurting her. The mother, concerned about the allegations, asked her older daughter whether the defendant had ever acted inappropriately or violently with her. The older daughter told her mother to call the police.

At that point, the defendant was charged with sexual abuse of a child. During trial, both children testified and described multiple specific instances during which the defendant entered their rooms at night and had sex with them. The girls detailed the defendant’s behaviors and the abuse they had endured. A pediatric nurse also testified at trial, and she stated that one of the daughters had visible injuries that likely came from a sexual assault.

The jury found the defendant guilty, and the court sentenced him to life in prison.

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Recently, an Arizona defendant originally charged with sexual assault appealed his guilty convictions and sentences in two related cases. On appeal, the Arizona Court of Appeals denied the defendant’s request and affirmed the superior court’s verdicts from 2018 and 2021. At issue on appeal was the defendant’s behavior during his two trials, and the higher court concluded that it was correct for the lower court to decide that the defendant did not have the right to be physically present for both cases’ proceedings.

Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, the defendant was first arrested for sexual assault in 2018. After going out to dinner with a woman, the defendant went with the woman back to her home, where he suddenly grabbed, choked, hit, and raped her. The State charged the defendant with sexual assault, aggravated assault, and threatening or intimidating. At the defendant’s trial, the defendant physically assaulted his court-appointed attorney right as the proceedings were about to begin. Immediately, law enforcement subdued the defendant, and the court declared a mistrial.

In 2021, the defendant came back to court on the original charges, but also to be tried for the physical assault of his attorney in 2018. At that time, the court communicated hesitation about letting the defendant in the courtroom for trial, both for safety reasons and because the court thought the defendant would be at an automatic disadvantage if the jury saw him acting violently.

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In a recent child pornography case coming out of an Arizona court, the defendant unsuccessfully appealed his convictions for sexual exploitation of a minor. On appeal, the defendant argued that the court admitted additional images of child pornography for which he was not charged and that these additional images unfairly biased the jury deciding his case. After considering his argument, the court rejected the appeal and affirmed the original convictions and sentences.

Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, investigators obtained a warrant to search the defendant’s house after they began suspecting him of dealing with child pornography. During the search, the investigators found an electronic data storage card that contained ten images of child pornography. Investigators found various other exploitive images during the search, and the defendant was indicted for ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

The defendant’s case went to trial, and he was found guilty. The court sentenced the defendant to prison terms totaling 102 years. He promptly appealed.

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In a recent Arizona opinion involving sexual assault, the court denied the defendant’s request to make his daughter answer questions in an interview regarding her experience as a victim of the defendant’s actions. Even though Arizona law protects sexual assault victims from having to do interviews against their will, the defendant argued that since the daughter resided in North Dakota, this law should not apply to her. The court disagreed, ruling that the daughter did not, in fact, have to answer questions if she did not want to answer them.

Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, the defendant was indicted in 2019 on one charge of sexual conduct with a minor under fifteen. The victim was the defendant’s daughter, who he allegedly abused from 1997 to 1999 in the state of Arizona. The case against the defendant became complicated by the fact that the defendant’s second daughter also reported that he had sexually abused her when she was living with him in North Dakota. The defendant pled guilty in North Dakota to continuous sexual abuse of his second daughter, and he was sentenced to twelve years in prison.

Meanwhile, in the case that was happening in Arizona, the defendant wanted to interview his first daughter, the one who accused him of sexual assault in North Dakota. The defendant thought that including an interview with this second daughter could somehow strengthen his case in Arizona. This daughter in North Dakota, however, declined to be interviewed. On appeal, the defendant argued that his daughter in North Dakota should have been forced to answer questions in an interview and that her refusal to interview unfairly affected his ability to put together a complete defense.

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In a recent opinion from an Arizona court involving child luring, two of the defendant’s convictions were vacated. Originally, the defendant had been convicted of three counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation. On appeal, he argued that he did not commit three separate crimes and that his conviction should be changed to reflect the nature of his crime. The court agreed, convicting the defendant of one count (instead of three counts) of luring a minor.

Facts of the Case

The defendant in this case, a Las Vegas resident in his early sixties, placed an advertisement on a website seeking sexual encounters with women. Users of the site supposedly had to agree that they were adults, but the site did not monitor or enforce the age requirement. In an attempt to target child predators, a detective in the Sheriff’s Office responded to the defendant’s advertisement under the name “Sabrina.” The defendant and Sabrina proceeded to send over 1,300 text messages to each other throughout the course of one week. Sabrina indicated she was 13 years old, and the defendant asked if she wanted to meet in person. Over text, the defendant suggested that he and Sabrina “make love” when they meet up.

A few days later, officers arrested the defendant when he arrived at the arranged meeting spot. The defendant was carrying clothing and a purse for Sabrina, a “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” doll, and a Viagra pill. The State then charged the defendant with three counts of luring a minor under the age of 15 for sexual exploitation, as well as one count of attempted sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 15.

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In a recent opinion from an Arizona court, a defendant’s convictions and sentences were affirmed after he unsuccessfully argued that his trial was unfair and that he should receive a new verdict. Originally, the defendant was convicted after exposing his penis to a minor and involving a minor in a drug offense. In its opinion, the court disagreed that the defendant’s trial was unfair and concluded that the defendant’s verdict should be affirmed.

Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, the defendant is an adult male who suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS) and whose right side of the body is largely non-functional. In April 2018, the defendant had his fourteen-year-old daughter take photographs of his penis so that he could send photos to her friends and to “know what they thought of his penis” in light of the MS. A few months later, the defendant provided marijuana in a pipe to one of his daughter’s friends, a neighbor who was fourteen years old.

The defendant was convicted for three counts of indecent exposure, one count of furnishing harmful material to minors, and one count of involving a minor in a drug offense. On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial was not properly conducted and that he should thus be afforded a new verdict.

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In a recent opinion in an Arizona sexual abuse case, the court denied the defendant’s request for a new verdict. A jury had convicted of a mixture of twenty-five felony and misdemeanor counts, including felonies of molestation of a child and sexual conduct with a minor, as well as misdemeanors of indecent exposure and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. On appeal, the defendant argued that some of the evidence used to find him guilty should have been suppressed; namely, when officers searched his cell phone and found incriminating photos, they were not actually authorized to be looking through his personal property. The court disagreed, finding the warrant that the officers used gave them permission to search the defendant’s phone.

The Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, the defendant was convicted after having molested his stepdaughter from the time that she was eight years old. The abuse remained constant throughout the victim’s childhood, and when the victim turned sixteen years old, the defendant began having sexual intercourse with her. In 2015, the victim and her biological father reported the incidents to the police, and a formal investigation began. During this investigation, detectives learned that the victim and the defendant had exchanged photographs of each other’s genitals over text message, as well as that the defendant had recently taken her cell phone away from her.

A few days later, police officers secured a search warrant, which identified fifteen specific items that the police were authorized to search. These items included the defendant’s cell phone and other electronic devices. A search of his cell phone led to the discovery of several nude photos of the victim, including photos of the defendant and the victim having sex.

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In a recent opinion from an Arizona court involving child pornography, the defendant’s request for the court to reconsider his guilty verdict was denied. The defendant was found guilty of sexual exploitation of a minor under the age of fifteen. He filed a motion to suppress evidence, arguing that the officers who found incriminating information did not have the kind of warrant they needed to be able to legally search his home. The appellate court denied the appeal because it found that the warrant was, in fact, valid, even though it had been five months between when the warrant was issued and when the officers made use of the warrant to search for evidence.

The Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, AOL Inc. filed a report in March 2014 after having discovered an email with the subject line, “Re: trade” with an image attached that appeared to contain child pornography. Once officers in Arizona received notice of the image, they subpoenaed the internet service provider to obtain subscriber information for the person who sent the email. Five months later, the officers followed the warrant’s information to the defendant’s home address. They discovered hundreds of images that were classified as child pornography. While the officers were in the defendant’s home, the defendant also admitted to having possessed and distributed child pornography for several years.