United States v. Moon
| Decision Date | 14 September 2020 |
| Docket Number | 2:19-cr-324-ACA-HNJ |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. RONALD TAI YOUNG MOON, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama |
After FBI agents uncovered covert video recordings of the defendant's neighbors and house guests, the government charged the defendant, Dr. Ronald Tai Young Moon ("Dr. Moon"), with two counts of production of child pornography, two counts of attempt to produce child pornography, and two counts of possession of child pornography. (Doc. 84). A jury found Dr. Moon guilty on all six counts. (Doc. 127). Dr. Moon moves for judgment of acquittal or, alternatively, for a new trial. (Doc. 132). For the reasons set forth below, the court DENIES the motions.
On January 15, 2019, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Agency raided The Industrial Athlete, a medical clinic owned and operated by Dr. Moon. Armed with a search warrant, the agents searched for evidence of a "pill mill" and health care fraud.
As part of the search, agents entered Dr. Moon's personal office and began searching. (Doc. 135 at 24). There, among Dr. Moon's diplomas, certifications, and family photographs, DEA Agent Wade Green discovered VHS tapes in a bag and box next to Dr. Moon's desk. (Doc. 135 at 28, 35). While in Dr. Moon's office, Agent Green reviewed some of the videos using a TV/VCR unit located next to Dr. Moon's desk. (Doc. 135 at 25-26). Agent Green's review revealed covert video recordings of adult women and minor girls, some of whom were in various stages of undress.
In all, agents collected over sixty VHS tapes from inside Dr. Moon's office. (Doc. 135 at 37, 44, 60). Of those sixty tapes, twenty-six contain only legal pornography. (GX 15-40; see also doc. 142 at 13, doc. 139 at 91). Fourteen other tapes contain a variety of footage, including amateur home videos of the Moon family (GX 3, GX 11, GX 13, GX 14), women's gymnastics (GX 2, GX 14), sexually explicit movies (GX 4), legal pornography (GX 3, GX 4, GX 11, GX 13), and mixed martial arts. (GX 6). All but one of these fourteen tapes also contain covert recordings of women and girls. (GX 1-11, GX 13-14) The court refers to these fourteen videos as the "Mix Tapes."1
Four of the Mix Tapes containing covert videos of girls form the basis of the six charged offenses. GX 1 formed the basis of Count One (producing and attempting to produce child pornography) and Count Five (possession of child pornography). GX 2 formed the basis of Count Two (attempting to produce child pornography). GX 3 formed the basis of Count Three (attempting to produce child pornography). And GX 4 formed the basis of Count Four (producing and attempting to produce child pornography) and Count Six (possession of child pornography).
Dr. Moon pleaded not guilty to the charges listed against him in the superseding indictment. As the case proceeded to trial, the defense sought to suppress the Mix Tapes based on the theory that the search warrant for The Industrial Athlete was invalid because the affidavit submitted with it contained misrepresentations that were material to the magistrate judge's finding of probable cause. (Doc. 39) After hearing argument on the motion, the court found that the defense failed to make a substantial preliminary showing that the affidavit contained deliberate or reckless misrepresentations or omissions that were material to finding probable cause. (Doc. 75). Accordingly, the court denied defendant's motion for a Franks hearing. (Id.).
At a pretrial conference on the eve of trial, the parties argued several motions in limine, many of which the defense now seeks to relitigate under the auspices of a Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33 motion for a new trial. See infra at 37-47. In addition, because the layout of the courtroom makes it impossible to show a video to the defendant, jury, and witness without being visible to the audience, the government announced that it would ask for the courtroom to be closed during the presentation of videos containing covertly recorded nude imagery of the victims. (Doc. 141 at 10). Rather than entertaining a global motion and objection, the court instructed the parties to approach each time they intended to show such evidence so that the court could consider each closure individually. (See id.). On the morning of trial, the parties informed the court off the record that they had reached an agreement on when the courtroom should be closed and that they would inform the court about when closure was appropriate. The case then proceeded to trial.
Over two and a half days, the government presented its case to a jury. The court admitted a total of forty out of the sixty VHS tapes collected from inside Dr. Moon's office at the Industrial Athlete. (Doc. 135 at 61; GX 1-GX 40). For technological reasons, however, the government did not use the VHS tapes to play the content of any video; instead, the government put digital copies of thirteen of the Mix Tapes on a thumb drive; the entirety of each tape was saved in its own folderon the thumb drive, labeled GX 1 through GX 11, GX 13, and GX14. (See Doc. 135 at 75). The thirteen videos were labeled GX 1A through GX 11A, GX 13A, and GX 14A. The government never played the entirety of any exhibit, but instead played select, relevant clips. To do so, the government took excerpts of the videos and saved the clips within the associated folder (so folder GX 1 contained the full video, saved as GX 1A, as well as clips taken from that video, saved as GX 1A1, etc.). The court admitted the thumb drive into evidence.
On the first day of trial, FBI intelligence analyst Tina Mauldin testified about the contents of all forty VHS tapes in general. (Doc. 135 at 87). According to Ms. Mauldin, many of these videotapes contained legal adult pornography while some contained a mix of home videos, covert camera videos, legal pornography, and recordings of movies off a television screen. (Id. at 87-88; see GX 3, GX 4, GX 11, GX 13). Ms. Mauldin also testified that some of the covert recordings featured girls under the age of 18. (Doc. 135 at 192). Some of those videos contained nudity. (Id.). Of the videos containing nudity, two of them showed the girls' naked pubic area. (Doc. 135 at 193; see GX 1A9, GX 4A6).
It is undisputed that the covert recordings forming the basis of the charges against Dr. Moon were taken from inside two of Dr. Moon's houses: one home in Hoover, where the Moon family lived from 1994 to 2002, and one home in Vestavia Hills, where the Moon family has lived since 2002. (Doc. 137 at 95, 114; see alsoDoc. 138 at 95). Some of the covert recordings appeared to be taped by a handheld video recorder from inside one house into another house. (Doc. 135 at 94). Others appeared to be recorded from within a bathroom. (Id. at 161). The person recording the video occasionally zoomed in on the individuals he secretly recorded from the other house. (Doc. 135 at 94).
The jury next heard from thirteen victims who identified themselves in the covert recordings. Eight of these women were minors at the time they were recorded. Several of these victims testified they were friends of Dr. Moon's daughter during middle school. (Doc. 136 at 27, 39, 54, 66, 207). Two of them were Dr. Moon's next-door neighbors. (Doc. 136 at 143, 208). All of them were in middle school when the videos were recorded. (See Doc. 136 at 26, 42, 56, 68, 80, 150; 208). One victim identified herself in footage covertly recorded in the basement bathroom of Dr. Moon's Vestavia Hills home. At the time of the recording, she was thirteen years old. (Doc. 136 at 209). She and a group of friends had returned to Dr. Moon's home after a school dance. (Doc. 136 at 29-30, 56, 67, 208; Doc. 138 at 61). The video recorded the young woman as she went from the sink area of the bathroom wearing her dress, entered and then shut the door to the area in which the toilet and shower were located, and then returned to the sink area in her bathing suit. (Id. at 211; GX 1A9). Thirty seconds later, the video shows the victim taking offher bathing suit in the sink area of the bathroom. (Id.). She is recorded fully nude with her pubic area visible. (Doc. 136 at 212; GX 1A9).
Another victim was recorded inside the Moon's Vestavia home while changing into her bathing suit on the evening of the eighth-grade dance. (Doc. 136 at 32-33, GX 1A3, GX 1A8). She was also recorded urinating. (Id. at 34). Other victims from the same night are also captured on video. In all the recordings, the victims are in the same bathroom either fully clothed or naked above the waist. (GX 1A3, GX 1A5, GX 1A10, GX 1A11, GX 1A12).
Another victim described recordings which captured the interior of her home located next door to Dr. Moon's Hoover residence. The recordings capture both her and her twin sister on numerous occasions and in various state of undress. In some of the recordings, the camera zoomed in and out while filming. (Doc. 136 at 154-155; GX 4A2, 4A6; Doc. 135 at 94; GX 4A4). In one clip, the victim is recorded fully nude with her pubic area exposed. (GX 4A6). In that clip, the camera zooms in on her. (Id.; Doc. 136 at 155-156).
In addition to the testimony from the victims, six former Industrial Athlete employees testified. Each of these witnesses identified the room where the VHS tapes were discovered as Dr. Moon's private office. All of them testified that Dr. Moon accessed the office regularly. (Doc. 136 at 96, 100, 513; Doc. 137 at 61, 73). They also testified the door to the office remained locked and only Dr. Moonhad a key. (Doc. 136 at 100, 116, 125, 135-136; Doc. 137 at 66). Only one of these witnesses testified she ever went into Dr. Moon's office. (Doc. 137 at 68 ()). Indeed, not only cleaning services had...
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