United States v. Michael Arvin

Michael Arvin appeals his conviction and sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 2252 (a)(1) for mailing three photographs of minor females engaged in sexually explicit conduct. His appeal presents several issues revolving around the meaning of the statutory term “lascivious.” We must decide whether this term incorporates a standard of obscenity, whether expert testimony on the issue of “lasciviousness” should have been allowed, and whether the district court correctly instructed the jury on the definition of this term. Arvin also raises issues concerning the denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment, the severity of his sentence, and prosecutorial misconduct. We affirm.

FACTS

Arvin stipulated at trial that he knowingly mailed three photocopied photographs of nude female children to undercover officer Jeffrey Miller. Arvin mailed the pictures in response to an advertisement seeking a pedophile correspondent placed by Miller in Swinger’s Digest. The photocopies were of pictures he had purchased several years earlier. Arvin was not the photographer, nor did he seek financial compensation from Miller. All three pictures show apparently prepubescent girls completely nude, facing the camera…