United States v. Kevin Eric Curtin

443 F.3d 1084 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kevin Eric CURTIN, Defendant-Appellant. No. 04-10632. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted October 19, 2005. Submission Vacated October 25, 2005. Resubmitted March 21, 2006. Filed April 4, 2006. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Cal J. Potter, III, Esq., Las Vegas, NV, for appellant Kevin Eric Curtin. Daniel J. Bogden, United States Attorney; Nancy J. Koppe, Assistant United States Attorney, Las Vegas, NV, for respondent United States of America. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada; Robert C. Jones, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-04-00064-RCJ/PAL. Before: J. CLIFFORD WALLACE, STEPHEN S. TROTT, and PAMELA ANN RYMER, Circuit Judges. WALLACE, Circuit Judge: 1 Curtin appeals from his conviction and sentence for traveling across state lines with intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423 (b), and of use of an interstate facility to attempt to persuade a minor to engage in sex, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422 (b). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm in part, reverse in part, and…

Curtin appeals from his conviction and sentence for traveling across state lines with intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423 (b), and of use of an interstate facility to attempt to persuade a minor to engage in sex, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422 (b). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for a new trial.

I.

On the afternoon of February 11, 2004, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Detective Michael Castaneda was acting undercover on the Internet as a 14-year-old girl using the screen name “chris-tinel3.” Castaneda entered a chat channel labeled “ltgirlsexchat” and received an instant message from Curtin, who used the screen name “M-42SOCAL.”

The detective, as “Christy,” and Curtin “chatted” through instant messaging for approximately four hours. They exchanged photos early in the conversation. Castaneda sent Curtin a picture of a female police officer, taken when she was fourteen years old. Curtin said his name was “Kenny” and that he was forty-two years old, divorced, and living in Anaheim, California. He told Christy that he was planning to travel to Las Vegas on…

dissenting:

During the 20th Century, the four walls of a family’s home provided substantial protection from marauding sexual predators on the prowl for children and unsuspecting minors to assault. Locked doors and windows could normally safeguard a dwelling from invasion, as well as shelter parents’ vulnerable children from harm. Distant parks, playgrounds, malls, and sidewalks surrounding school yards were the child molester’s preferred hunting grounds. No longer. Now, the Internet is upon us, and it allows cunning sexual vultures repeatedly to enter the bedrooms of immature children where, by seductive and calculating means, unwary children are enticed to leave the security of their homes and to venture into unspeakable dangers. Moreover, the invaders themselves do so invisibly, appearing only on a video screen, unseen by the unsuspecting adults on site. This case provides an example of this frightful situation which generations not yet familiar with the dark side of the Internet have been slow to recognize.

With the walls of our homes breached by the Internet, our next best defense is the law. Unfortunately, this case reveals that the laws and the rules of evidence upon which…