In United States v. Spoor, the Second Circuit
(Cabranes, Carney, and District Judge Caproni) affirmed a
conviction for production and possession of child
pornography. In a decision by Judge Caproni, the Court
rejected a number of arguments made by the defense.
First, the Court rejected a sufficiency of the evidence argument
presented by the defendant, holding that "[a]lthough the
videos are not the most obvious examples of child pornography,
given that we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to
the Government, there was sufficient evidence from which a jury
could conclude that each of the videos depicted a lascivious
exhibition." Addressing an issue not raised by the
defense, the Court also held that in future cases charging
production of child pornography, the district court should take
care to instruct the jury that it may not find a film to depict a
"lascivious exhibition" based solely on the
defendant's intent in creating the video.
