§ 22-3104 — Affirmative defenses.

(a) Under this chapter it shall be an affirmative defense that the defendant in good faith reasonably believed the person appearing in the performance was 18 years of age or over.

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, in any prosecution for an offense pursuant to § 22-3102(2) it shall be an affirmative defense that the person so charged was:

(A) A librarian engaged in the normal course of his or her employment; or

(B) A motion picture projectionist, stage employee or spotlight operator, cashier, doorman, usher, candy stand attendant, porter, or in any other nonmanagerial or nonsupervisory capacity in a motion picture theater.

(2) The affirmative defense provided by paragraph (1) of this subsection shall not apply if the person described therein has a financial interest (other than his or her employment, which employment does not encompass compensation based upon any proportion of the gross receipts) in:

(A) The promotion of a sexual performance for sale, rental, or exhibition;

(B) The direction of any sexual performance; or

(C) The acquisition of the performance for sale, retail, or exhibition.

(c) It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge under § 22-3102 that the defendant:

(1) Possessed or accessed less than 6 still photographs or one motion picture, however produced or reproduced, of a sexual performance by a minor; and

(2) Promptly and in good faith, and without retaining, copying, or allowing any person, other than a law enforcement agency, to access any photograph or motion picture:

(A) Took reasonable steps to destroy each such photograph or motion picture; or

(B) Reported the matter to a law enforcement agency and afforded that agency access to each such photograph or motion picture.

Legislative History

Mar. 9, 1983, D.C. Law 4-173, § 5, 29 DCR 5749; Oct. 23, 2010, D.C. Law 18-239, § 205(c), 57 DCR 5405