When you can legally have sex with a 17-year-old, can you be prosecuted for possessing lewd nude photos of her?
An interesting case from Pennsylvania: Commonwealth v. Kushmanick --- https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16740795723863570093
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...tm_term=.e64c9dc51921&wpisrc=nl_volokh&wpmm=1
Quote:
Defendant started dating S.C. when he was 18 or 19, and she was 16 (according to defendant, just a week shy of her 17th birthday). The age of consent for sexual activity generally in Pennsylvania is 16. (There is the possibility that someone may be prosecuted for “corrupting the morals of a minor” when the minor is 16 or 17, but this was not an issue raised in this case.)
As part of their relationship — according to Defendant, after S.C. turned 17 — he would photograph S.C. naked. “The photographs depicted S.C. naked in a blatantly sexual way. However, the photographs also graphically establish that S.C. was a willing and voluntary model.” Her face was apparently not visible on the photographs, but she recognized them at trial because of various items of clothing and linens they depicted.
“When the relationship ended between the parties, S.C. asked [Defendant] to delete the photographs from his cell phone.” Defendant didn’t do that, but he apparently never displayed the photographs to anyone else.'
In late 2013, a police officer got access to defendant’s phone (with a warrant) “as a result of an unrelated investigation” and found the pictures, which led to the prosecution of defendant for creating and possessing child pornography. Defendant was convicted and “sentenced to 18 months of probation” but was also “classified as a Tier III offender … and thus subject to the lifetime registration requirement
The law in question states: Any person who knowingly photographs, videotapes, depicts on computer or films a child under the age of 18 years engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such an act commits an offense…..
An interesting case from Pennsylvania: Commonwealth v. Kushmanick --- https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16740795723863570093
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...tm_term=.e64c9dc51921&wpisrc=nl_volokh&wpmm=1
Quote:
Defendant started dating S.C. when he was 18 or 19, and she was 16 (according to defendant, just a week shy of her 17th birthday). The age of consent for sexual activity generally in Pennsylvania is 16. (There is the possibility that someone may be prosecuted for “corrupting the morals of a minor” when the minor is 16 or 17, but this was not an issue raised in this case.)
As part of their relationship — according to Defendant, after S.C. turned 17 — he would photograph S.C. naked. “The photographs depicted S.C. naked in a blatantly sexual way. However, the photographs also graphically establish that S.C. was a willing and voluntary model.” Her face was apparently not visible on the photographs, but she recognized them at trial because of various items of clothing and linens they depicted.
“When the relationship ended between the parties, S.C. asked [Defendant] to delete the photographs from his cell phone.” Defendant didn’t do that, but he apparently never displayed the photographs to anyone else.'
In late 2013, a police officer got access to defendant’s phone (with a warrant) “as a result of an unrelated investigation” and found the pictures, which led to the prosecution of defendant for creating and possessing child pornography. Defendant was convicted and “sentenced to 18 months of probation” but was also “classified as a Tier III offender … and thus subject to the lifetime registration requirement
The law in question states: Any person who knowingly photographs, videotapes, depicts on computer or films a child under the age of 18 years engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such an act commits an offense…..
