State v. Faruqi

344 S.W.3d 193, 2011 Mo. LEXIS 206, 2011 WL 3298881
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedAugust 2, 2011
DocketSC 91195
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 344 S.W.3d 193 (State v. Faruqi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Faruqi, 344 S.W.3d 193, 2011 Mo. LEXIS 206, 2011 WL 3298881 (Mo. 2011).

Opinion

LAURA DENVIR STITH, Judge.

Kasim Faruqi appeals from a judgment of conviction for attempted enticement of a child. Mr. Faruqi argues that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to dismiss the indictment because the statute setting forth the crime of enticement of a child is unconstitutionally vague.

Mr. Faruqi was charged with and convicted of attempted enticement of a child. He did attempt to entice a child, but it turned out that the “child” was a police officer masquerading as a child. Mr. Fa-ruqi says that “affirmative defense” language in subsection 2 of section 566.151 RSMo Supp.2010 1 makes the statute unclear as to whether someone could be convicted of actual enticement of a child in a situation in which no actual child was involved; he argues, therefore, that he should not be able to be convicted of attempted enticement of a child either. But the attempt statute is explicit that “[i]t is no defense to a prosecution under this section that the offense attempted was, under the actual attendant circumstances, factually or legally impossible of commission, if such offense could have been committed had the attendant circumstances been as the actor believed them to be.” § 564.011 RSMo 2000. Mr. Faruqi’s vagueness challenge fails.

For the reasons stated below, this Court also rejects Mr. Faruqi’s arguments that his statements to police were involuntary and that certain computer evidence introduced to bolster the other evidence of his computer chats with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl was obtained through an unlawful search and seizure. The judgment is affirmed.

*198 I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In November 2006, the Maryland Heights police department conducted an undercover sting operation in which a police officer logged on to an Internet chat room posing as a 14-year-old girl named Kaitlin. On November 6th, “Kaitlin” received an unsolicited instant message from 33-year-old Kasim Faruqi, who was using the screen name “Kasim786.” She told him at the beginning of the chat that she was 14. Within 20 minutes, he expressed an interest in meeting her in person. During the first and the three subsequent conversations Mr. Faruqi had with “Kaitlin” online and via telephone, Mr. Faruqi stated that he wanted to hug and kiss “Kaitlin,” touch her breasts, perform and receive oral sex, and have unprotected sex with her. He told “Kaitlin” that he knew that this would be illegal because she was only 14, and he made her promise that she would not tell anyone. Ultimately, they agreed to meet at a park.

Mr. Faruqi showed up at the meeting place at the agreed-upon time and was arrested. After Mr. Faruqi’s arrest, Detective Steven Osterloh interviewed him. The detective was unarmed and alone with Mr. Faruqi in the interview room. Detective Osterloh began the interview by advising Mr. Faruqi of his Miranda rights. He asked Mr. Faruqi whether he could read and write English; Mr. Faruqi responded affirmatively. Mr. Faruqi read the first line of the Miranda form aloud and confirmed that he understood it. Then Detective Osterloh read each of Mr. Faruqi’s rights to him. After each right was read to him, Mr. Faruqi acknowledged that he understood it and marked it with his initials. When Detective Osterloh finished going through the Miranda form, Mr. Fa-ruqi said that he understood his rights and signed a waiver of them.

Detective Osterloh told Mr. Faruqi that the police were investigating complaints by the parents of a 14-year-old girl who were concerned that he was trying to have sex with their daughter. During the interview, when Mr. Faruqi told the detective that he was from Pakistan, the detective asked him about the customs of his home country and his familiarity with the laws of the United States “as far as having sex with a minor.”

Mr. Faruqi admitted to Detective Oster-loh that he had chatted online with a girl he thought was 14 years old and that he had asked her if she would engage in sexual acts with him. He said that when he went to the park, he believed he would be meeting a 14-year-old girl named Kaitlin. After making his verbal statement, Mr. Faruqi agreed to make a written statement. Mr. Faruqi’s first draft of the statement left out some details, so at Detective Osterloh’s, request he prepared a more detailed final statement. The statement contained admissions that he had chatted with a 14-year-old girl, that they had talked about sex and that they had arranged to meet.

Mr. Faruqi signed a “consent to search” form permitting a search of the computer at his workplace. Police seized the computer and discovered on it data fragments corresponding with the chats between Mr. Faruqi and “Kaitlin.”

Mr. Faruqi was charged by indictment with attempted enticement of a child under section 566.151. Prior to trial, the court overruled Mr. Faruqi’s motion to dismiss the indictment, in which he alleged that the enticement statute violated the Due Process Clause because subsection 2 of section 566.151 was unconstitutionally vague. At his bench trial, he admitted that he had participated in the chats but said that he had believed that “Kaitlin” was really an adult, not a 14-year-old girl. *199 He said that the sexual content of the chats was just a fantasy and that he never had any intention of engaging in sexual conduct with “Kaitlin.” He testified that his written statement was coerced by the interviewing officer, who he claimed told him that he could go home if he cooperated and who caused him to become concerned about the worried parents of “Kaitlin,” whom he still believed to be a real 14-year-old girl. The trial court found Mr. Faruqi guilty and sentenced him to five years in prison. Because Mr. Faruqi is challenging the constitutional validity of a statute, this Court has exclusive appellate jurisdiction. Mo. Const. art. V, § B.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW AND PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF STATUTES

“ ‘Constitutional challenges to the validity of any alleged right or defense asserted by a party to an action must be raised at the earliest opportunity consistent with good pleading and orderly procedure.’ ” State ex rel. Houska v. Dickhaner, 3 23 S.W.3d 29, 33 (Mo. banc 2010) (internal quotations omitted). “A statute is presumed to be constitutional and will not be invalidated unless it clearly and undoubtedly violates some constitutional provision and palpably affronts fundamental law embodied in the constitution.” State v. Richard, 298 S.W.3d 529, 531 (Mo. banc 2009). “This Court will ‘resolve all doubt in favor of the act’s validity 5 and may ‘make every reasonable intendment to sustain the constitutionality of the statute.’ ” Reproductive Health Servs. of Planned Parenthood v. Nixon, 185 S.W.3d 685, 688 (Mo. banc 2006), quoting Westin Crown Plaza Hotel v. King, 664 S.W.2d 2, 5 (Mo. banc 1984).

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Bluebook (online)
344 S.W.3d 193, 2011 Mo. LEXIS 206, 2011 WL 3298881, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-faruqi-mo-2011.