9th Cir.;
16-30082

The court of appeals affirmed in part and vacated in part a judgment. The court held that a defendant may be convicted of attempting to produce and transport into the United States a video recording of sexual relations with a minor, even if the victim believed by the defendant to be a minor turns out to have been an adult.

Jason Jayavarman traveled to Cambodia, where he had sexual relations with a young woman he believed to be a minor. He made a video recording of their encounter and transported the recording back home with him. He was arrested and charged with violating 18 U.S.C. §2251(c), which makes it a crime to produce outside the United States a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and to then transport that visual depiction into the United States, and §2251(e), which makes it a crime to attempt such activity. Evidence was introduced at trial suggesting that the victim Jayavarman believed to be a minor was actually an adult. A jury found Jayavarman guilty of the attempt only. He was also found guilty of attempting to aid and abet another person in traveling to a foreign country with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct in violation of §§2423(b) and (e).