Sufficiency of Evidence

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Kevin Hartleroad

Case No.: 22-1156

Officials: Wood, Brennan, and Scudder, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sufficiency of Evidence

Hartleroad contacted the author of an online post soliciting persons interested in participating in sexual con-duct with minors.  That post expressly excluded those interested in “role play” or “fantasy.” The author claimed to be a stepfather who was engaged in sexual relations with his fourteen-year-old daughter, but he was actually undercover FBI Task Force Officer Christopher McCarty.

Hartleroad faced charges of attempting to sexually exploit a child under 18 U.S.C. 2251. The accusation was based on his alleged actions of trying to engage, persuade, induce, entice, and coerce a minor to participate in sexually explicit conduct, either for creating a recorded depiction or a live broadcast. The jury received a similar directive, with the added condition that Hartleroad’s intention must have been to transmit a live visual representation of the explicit conduct. The appellate court upheld Hartleroad’s conviction, dismissing arguments challenging the sufficiency of evidence, the potential amendment of the indictment through the jury instructions, and the claim that the indictment encompassed conduct not prohibited under section 2251(a).

Affirmed

Decided 07/11/23

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