United States v. Hillie

289 F. Supp. 3d 188
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJanuary 29, 2018
DocketNo. 16–cr–0030 (KBJ)
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 289 F. Supp. 3d 188 (United States v. Hillie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Hillie, 289 F. Supp. 3d 188 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, United States District Judge

Defendant Charles Hillie is charged in a superseding indictment with seven counts of production, attempted production, and possession of child pornography, in violation of federal law, and ten counts of child sexual abuse, in violation of District of Columbia law. (See Superseding Indictment ("Indictment"), ECF No. 44.)1 The federal counts in the superseding indictment relate to the government's allegation that Hillie surreptitiously video-recorded his live-in girlfriend's underage daughter as she removed her clothes, applied creams and lotions to her naked body, bathed, used the toilet, washed and groomed herself, and performed other intimate activities in what she thought was the privacy of her own bedroom and bathroom. In his motion to dismiss, Hillie argues that "[n]one of the videos ... capture[s] [the victim] engaging in any *191conduct that could remotely be considered lascivious" (Def.'s Second Mot. to Dismiss Counts 1-7 of the Indictment ("Def.'s Mot."), ECF No. 50, at 4), and thus, the "visual depictions in each of these counts do not constitute child pornography as a matter of law" (id. at 1).2 Hillie further maintains that the government has indicted him "based largely on a flawed interpretation of what constitutes child pornography," because there is, in fact, "absolutely no evidence to suggest that Mr. Hillie attempted to produce child pornography." (Id. ) Not surprisingly, the government disagrees with Hillie's contentions, and argues that this Court should uphold the various child pornography charges that have been brought against Hillie in this case. (See generally Gov't's Opp'n to Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss Counts 1-7 of the Indictment ("Gov't's Opp'n"), ECF No. 55.)

This Court heard the parties' arguments on Hillie's motion to dismiss the child pornography charges during a motion hearing that the Court held on August 3, 2017 (see Aug. 3, 2017 Hr'g Tr. ("Aug. 3 Tr."), at 51-75), and during a subsequent hearing held on September 21, 2017, the Court orally DENIED Hillie's motion (see Sept. 21, 2017 Hr'g Tr. ("Sept. 21 Tr.") ). The instant Memorandum Opinion explains the reasons for that ruling. In short, this Court has considered the parties' arguments, and evaluated the facts presented here in light of the widely accepted factors for determining whether a charged visual depiction constitutes child pornography in the form of a "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area" of a minor, 18 U.S.C. § 2256(2)(A)(v), that were first set out in United States v. Dost , 636 F.Supp. 828 (S.D. Cal. 1986), aff'd sub nom. United States v. Wiegand , 812 F.2d 1239 (9th Cir. 1987), cert. denied , 484 U.S. 856, 108 S.Ct. 164, 98 L.Ed.2d 118 (1987), and aff'd , 813 F.2d 1231 (9th Cir. 1987). The Court has concluded that a reasonable jury could easily find that the videos charged in the superseding indictment either depict a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct or demonstrate Hillie's attempts to capture depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Therefore, this Court agrees with the government that the crimes of production and possession of child pornography (which require that a minor engage in "sexually explicit conduct[,]" 18 U.S.C. §§ 2251(a), 2252(a)(4)(B) ) can reasonably be construed to pertain to the conduct the government has charged here.

A separate Order consistent with this Memorandum Opinion will follow.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Underlying Facts

The federal child pornography counts that Hillie challenges in the instant motion to dismiss are alleged in a superseding indictment that the government filed on January 18, 2017. (See Indictment.) This Court previously granted in part Hillie's motion to dismiss an earlier iteration of the indictment, see United States v. Hillie ("Hillie I "), 227 F.Supp.3d 57, 82 (D.D.C. 2017), after which the government timely filed the superseding indictment that is before the Court today.

This Court's opinion in Hillie I contains a lengthy discussion of the allegations of fact that underlie the child pornography and sex abuse charges against Hillie, see id. at 66-67 ; those facts will not be repeated here. For present purposes, it suffices to recall that, "[b]eginning in 2005," Hillie allegedly became "romantically involved" with the mother of the two alleged *192victims involved in this case-J.A.A. and J.A., who are sisters-and Hillie lived with this family "on and off" over a ten-year period. Id. at 66. "J.A., the younger of the two sisters, was the first to speak up about the alleged sexual abuse" when, "[i]n December of 2012," she "confided in her biological father ... about Hillie's conduct, which led her father to file a formal report with the police." Id. J.A.A. (the older sister) initially "refus[ed] to corroborate J.A.'s account[,]" which caused "the police to suspend their investigation into the child sex abuse allegations," but J.A.A. eventually "reversed course and admitted to the investigators that she had previously lied about not being abused by Hillie." Id.

Significantly for present purposes, J.A.A. also "told the police that ...

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Bluebook (online)
289 F. Supp. 3d 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hillie-cadc-2018.