No. 22-7061

Lorenzo Elias Mendez v. United States

Lower Court: Ninth Circuit
Docketed: 2023-03-22
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: child-pornography circuit-split criminal-law due-process federal-statute first-amendment minor-exploitation sentencing-guidelines sexually-explicit-conduct statutory-interpretation
Key Terms:
FirstAmendment JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2023-04-14
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. Whether the statutory term "lascivious exhibition " refers to the defendant 's act of exhibiting a minor 's genitals on film, or, in other words, to the visual depiction that the defendant attempted to produce, as the First through Eleventh Circuits hold; or whether it refers instead to a particular type of conduct in which the subject of the image must have engaged, as the D.C. Circuit holds; and

2. If the D.C. Circuit is correct, whether a defendant may be convicted of attempting to violate § 2251(a) and sentenced therefor to 20 years of imprisonment based solely on evidence that he surreptitiously filmed a minor masturbating?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the statutory term 'lascivious exhibition' refers to the defendant's act of exhibiting a minor's genitals on film, or to a particular type of conduct in which the subject of the image must have engaged

Docket Entries

2023-04-17
Petition DENIED.
2023-03-30
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/14/2023.
2023-03-24
Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
2023-03-15
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due April 21, 2023)

Attorneys

Lorenzo E. Mendez
Lorenzo Elias Mendez — Petitioner
United States
Elizabeth B. PrelogarSolicitor General, Respondent