USA. v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 08 February 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-10046,00-10046
• Citation: 239 F.3d 994
• Parties: (9th Cir. 2001) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ANDRE LAVON TAYLOR, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 994

239 F.3d 994 (9th Cir. 2001)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ANDRE LAVON TAYLOR, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 00-10046

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Argued and Submitted December 14, 2000

Filed February 8, 2001

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Michael J. Kennedy, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Las Vegas, Nevada, for the defendant-appellant.

Peter Ko and Thomas M. O'Connell, Assistant United States Attorneys, Las Vegas, Nevada, for the plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Howard D. McKibben, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No.CR-99-00019-HDM

Before: Mary M. Schroeder, Chief Judge, Cynthia Holcomb Hall, and William A. Fletcher, Circuit Judges.

SCHROEDER, Chief Judge:

Andre L. Taylor appeals his conviction of four counts of transportation of a minor for the purposes of prostitution under 18 U.S.C. 2423(a), and of two counts of money laundering under 18 U.S.C. 1957 and 1956 (a)(1)(A)(i). The main issue that this circuit has not yet addressed is whether conviction under 18 U.S.C. 2423(a)(transportation of a minor for purposes of prostitution or commission of another sex offense) requires the government to prove that the defendant knew the victim was a minor. We hold that it does not, because the statute is intended to protect young persons who are transported for illicit purposes, and not transporters who remain ignorant of the age of those whom they transport.

The principal evidentiary challenge is to testimony by a government expert on the relationship between prostitutes and their pimps. The testimony was properly admitted. In accordance with the principles of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993), the testimony was properly admitted because it reflected specialized knowledge that assisted the jury in evaluating the credibility of the government's principal witness.

Taylor also contends the government failed to offer sufficient evidence to justify convictions of money laundering under either 18 U.S.C. 1957 or 1956 (a)(1)(A)(i), and that the government should not have admitted evidence of Taylor's prior bad acts. None of these arguments succeeds.

Facts

Taylor pursued careers in various aspects of the entertainment and related industries. During 1997 he served as a consultant for the production of a documentary on the subject of pimps. He also endeavored to pursue a career as a rap and hip hop singer, producing and attempting to market a CD entitled "The Big Pimp." Finally, he ran a business he described as an "escort service" that employed women who engaged in illegal prostitution. Most of his activities were conducted in San Francisco and Las Vegas.

One of the women he employed was Meagan Fischmann, whom he met in Las Vegas in May, 1997, when she was 16. He soon purchased an airline ticket for her, and the pair traveled to San Francisco, where she worked as a prostitute. Within a few days she was arrested and returned to her grandmother in Florida. The evidence reflects that Taylor then arranged for her to travel back to Las Vegas, where she again engaged in prostitution. She and Taylor also made at least one round trip to Phoenix to obtain new false identification for Fischmann as "Aston Royce," age 2l.

Transportation of a Minor

Taylor was convicted of transporting a minor for purposes of prostitution, under 18 U.S.C. 2423(a), arising out of his arranging Fischmann's trips from Florida to Las Vegas, from Las Vegas to San Francisco, and from Las Vegas to Phoenix. Taylor asked the district court to instruct the jury that it must find as an element of each count that Taylor knew Fischmann was under the age of 18. The district court declined, holding that knowledge of minority was not required so long as the government proved that Fischmann was a minor and that Taylor was transporting her for purposes of prostitution.

On appeal, Taylor contends that a contrary interpretation is compelled by the wording of the statute. A more natural reading of the statute, however, is that the requirement of knowledge applies to the defendant's conduct of transporting the person rather than to the age of the person transported.

A person who knowingly transports an individual who has not attained the age of 18 years in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any commonwealth, territory or possession of the United States, with intent that the individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both.

18 U.S.C. 2423(a).

Taylor asks us to look at statutes regulating the transportation or sale of hazardous waste that have been interpreted to require knowledge of the nature of the substance being transported or sold. See U.S. v. Heuer, 4 F.3d 723 (9th Cir. 1993)(finding that an offense under 42 U.S.C. 6928(d)(2) requires knowledge that the waste being sold is hazardous); U.S. v. Speach, 968 F.2d 795 (9th Cir. 1992)(holding that an offense under 42 U.S.C. 6928(d)(1) requires knowledge that the waste being transported is hazardous). Those cases are not helpful, however, because it is the hazardous nature of the substance that makes the conduct criminal. If the substance being transported were not hazardous, there would be no crime.

Here, in contrast, the transportation of any individual for purposes of prostitution or other criminal sexual activity is already unlawful under federal law. 18 U.S.C.S 2421. Under 18 U.S.C. 2423(a), the fact that the individual being transported is a minor creates a more serious crime in order to provide heightened protection against sexual exploitation of minors. See, e.g., H.R. Rep. 105-557, at 17 (1998) (justifying 1998 amendment increasing penalties for offenses under 18 U.S.C. 2423(a)). As Congress intended, the age of the victim simply subjects the defendant to a more severe penalty in light of Congress' concern about the sexual exploitation of minors. Cf. U.S. v. Figueroa, 165 F.3d 111, 115 (2d Cir. 1998)(noting that, if a criminal statute's language is unclear, its scienter requirement is presumed to be met once an individual forms the requisite intent to commit some type of crime). This is the conclusion reached by the courts in other circuits that have considered the same issue. See U.S. v. Hamilton, 456 F.2d 171, 173 (3rd Cir. 1972)(per curiam); U.S. v. Griffith, 2000 WL 1253265 (S.D.N.Y.)(holding that a defendant violated Section 2423(a) when the victim was a minor, even if he lacked knowledge that she was).

The district court correctly interpreted the statutory elements of the crime, and its instructions were not in error. Ignorance of the victim's age provides no safe harbor from the penalties in 18 U.S.C. 2423(a). If someone knowingly transports a person for the purposes of prostitution or another sex offense, the transporter assumes the risk that the victim is a minor, regardless of what the victim says or how the victim appears.

Expert Testimony on Relationship between Pimps and Prostitutes

During the presentation of its case-in-chief, the government sought to introduce the testimony of an academic expert (Dr. Lee) on the relationship between prostitutes and their pimps. Taylor contends that the district court failed to apply the required procedural safeguards for admission of expert testimony, and that such testimony was not relevant in any case. Neither of these contentions is persuasive.

The government wanted to include Dr. Lee's testimony primarily to shed light on Fischmann's credibility, in particular to explain why a person in Fischmann's position might not have testified truthfully in previous proceedings about her relationship with her pimp. The district court considered the probative value of Dr. Lee's testimony and admitted most of it. Taylor's main contention is that the district court failed to hold a gatekeeping hearing to weigh the testimony's admissibility. See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993) (explaining the factors to be considered in determining the admissibility of expert testimony); Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999) (discussing the role of gatekeeping hearings for expert testimony). Yet the district court held such a hearing.

Not only did the district court ensure that Dr. Lee's testimony was screened at a gatekeeping hearing, but it correctly ruled that the testimony was relevant to the issues in the case. Under Federal Rules of Evidence 401 and 402, evidence is relevant if it tends to make the existence of any pertinent fact more or less probable. See Fed. R. Evid. 401, 402.

By and large, the relationship between prostitutes and pimps is not the subject of common knowledge. See generally Note, "Men Who Own Women: A Thirteenth Amendment Critique of Forced Prostitution," 103 Yale L.J. 791, 793-96 (1993) (citing research on the abuse of prostitutes by pimps and noting that the full extent of such abuse remains unknown); Ann M. Coughlin, "Of White Slaves and Domestic Hostages," 1 Buff. Crim. L. Rev. 108, 120-21, 124-25 (1997) (discussing how people puzzle over why a prostitute does not leave an abusive relationship with a pimp). A trier of fact who is in the dark about that relationship may be unprepared to assess the veracity of an alleged pimp, prostitute, or other witness testifying...