People v. Heywood

2014 COA 99, 357 P.3d 201, 2014 WL 3955201, 2014 Colo. App. LEXIS 1332
Colorado Court of Appeals·Decided August 14, 2014·No. Court of Appeals No. 11CA2165·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinions

Opinion by

JUDGE WEBB

T1 A jury convicted Jason Jackson Heywood of violating section 18-3-405.4(1)(b), C.R.S.2013, Internet sexiial exploitation of a child. As relevant here, this statute applies if the actor knowingly importunes, invites, or entices another person, whom the actor knows or believes to be younger than fifteen years old, to view his intimate parts through a computer network. Resolving a novel question, we conclude that importuning, inviting, or enticing requires more than allowing such viewing to continue, after the actor comes to know or believe that the viewer is less than fifteen years old.

T2 Here, the undisputed evidence proves at most only that Heywood, without any information about the viewer's age, invited a person to view a webcam stream of him masturbating, and then did not stop the stream until several minutes after the viewer had said that she was fourteen years old. Because this evidence was insufficient, we reverse the judgment of conviction and remand the case for entry of a judgment of acquittal.

I. Background

13 Heywood and a Jefferson County District Attorney's investigator were connected to an Internet chat room 1 restricted to people at least eighteen years old. Heywood used. the sereen name "armyjay23." Using two separate sereen names, "tongue_kisser4" and "Tina Gallagher," the investigator masqueraded as two females. Tina Gallagher's chat room profile did not include her age.

T 4 Heywood initiated an instant-message 2 conversation with Gallagher by saying, "hi." Gallagher responded, "hi," and then asked, "asl?"-which, according to the investigator and Heywood, requested Heywood's age, sex, [204]*204and location. Before Heywood responded, he gave Gallagher access to his live webcam stream by sending her a "front view of [his] webcam" message, which asked, "Do you want to accept invitation from armyjay.3 Gallagher accepted and began receiving a webcam stream that showed Heywood masturbating.

4[ 5 While the webcam streamed images to Gallagher's computer, their conversation continued as follows:

armyjay283 (... 5:29:40 p.m.): 29 male den-ver you?
Tina Gallagher (... 5:29:52 p.m.): lakewood here. u lik dtown denver? 14 f
Tina Gallagher (... 5:80:00 p.m.): ur huge!
armyjay28 (... 5:80:14 p.m.) and you shouldnt be watehing*
Tina Gallagher (... 5:30:19 p.m.): u asked me
armyjay28 (... 5:80:48 p.m.): i didn't it invited everyone in the room
Tina Gallagher (... 5:81:05 pm.): no it said u invited me to see
armyjay28 (... 5:31:20 p.m.): well ill turn it off you could be a cop
Tina Gallagher (... 5:81:27 p.m.): im not a fuckin cop
Tina Gallagher (... 5:81:86 p.m.): wat the fuck
armyjay28 (... 5:81:45 p.m.): show me a pic 4
Tina Gallagher (... 5:81:47 pm.): k
[[Image here]]
Tina Gallagher (... 5:82:07 p.m.): tats me armyjay23 (... 5:82:20 pm.): body pic5
Tina Gallagher (... 5:82:25 pm.): k
[[Image here]]
Tina Gallagher (... 5:82:50 pm.) teres another one
armyjay23 (... 5:88:18 p.m.): are you ital-ian
Tina Gallagher (... 5:80:30 pm.): yes
Tina Gallagher (... 5:83:34 p.m.): half
Tina Gallagher (... 5:84:19 p.m.): wat r u?
armyjay23 (... 5:84:24 p.m.): white
Tina Gallagher (... 5:84:39 p.m.): cool
Ting Gallagher ( ... 5:85:08 pm.): brb 6
armyjay23 (... 5:85:14 p.m.): i gtg7
Tina Gallagher (... 5:85:84 pm.): friend?
Tina Gallagher (... 5:85:41 pm.) ha
Tina Gallagher (... 5:85:44 p.m.): want to be my friend dont
armyjay23 (... 5:85:45 p.m.): nah youre to young hun
Tina Gallagher (... 5:85:50 pm.): k wa-teve
Tina Gallagher (... 5:85:59 p.m.): bye
armyjay28 (... 5:86:06 p.m.): bye
[[Image here]]
armyjay23 (... 5:36:13 p.m.) hit me up when your 18 lol 8
Tina Gallagher (... long ways way 5:36:21 pm.): tats

T6 Heywood admitted that he could have terminated Gallagher's access to the webcam stream at any time. But he did not do so until shortly after she wrote "brb," over five minutes following her statement that she was fourteen years old. The webcam showed him masturbating that entire time.

17 While the investigator was exchanging instant messages with Heywood as Gallagher, he also exchanged sexually graphic instant messages with him posing as tongue _kisser4, whom he identified as a twenty-two-year-old woman. In that role, the investigator arranged to meet Heywood. At the meeting, the investigator arrested him.

[205]*205T8 On appeal, Heywood primarily contends the evidence was insufficient. Because we agree and conclude that dismissal .of the charge is required, we do not address any other contention.

IL Preservation and Standard of Review

T9 Whether the record contains sufficient evidence to support a conviction is subject to de novo review. Dempsey v. People, 117 P.3d 800, 807 (Colo.2005). However, because Heywood did not raise sufficiency of the evidence below, we agree with the Attorney General that the judgment will be reversed only for plain error. See People v. Lacallo, 2014 COA 78, ¶11, 338 P.3d 442 (divided decision noting differing opinions among divisions of this court and majority holding that unpreserved sufficiency of the evidence challenges should be reversed only for plain error).9

11 10 Lacallo is more like this case than it is different. True, in Lacaillo, interpreting a statutory element preceded "weighing of the probative strength of the evidence against the culpability element to which it relates." People v. Madson, 638 P.2d 18, 26 (Colo.1981). Here, the conduct proscribed by section 18-3-405.4 is unambiguous (as more fully explained in Part IV infra). But this difference impacts only the second step in plain error analysis-obviousness-not the rationale for limiting reversal for unpre-served insufficiency claims to plain error.

{11 And, similar to Lacallo, where trial counsel raised a different sufficiency argument below but "did not expressly or even impliedly raise the issue now argued," ¶6, here Heywood did not raise insufficiency until he appealed.10

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People v. Heywood, 2014 COA 99, 357 P.3d 201, 2014 WL 3955201, 2014 Colo. App. LEXIS 1332 (Colo. Ct. App. 2014).

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