U.S. v. Carson

In prosecution on sex trafficking charge arising out of defendant’s recruitment of 17-year-old female and two older women to perform commercial sex acts with knowledge that said victims were forced to do so, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s request to present evidence that said victims had been prostitutes prior to their involvement with defendant, even though defendant argued that said prior acts of prostitution made it more likely that they had voluntarily consented to perform acts of prostitution for defendant. Defendant failed to show that victims had voluntarily engaged in commercial sex acts on prior occasions, and record otherwise indicated that defendant had beat and raped victims to compel them to prostitute themselves for him. Moreover, Dist. Ct. did not err in precluding defendant from asking govt. witness about alleged incident in which witness made offer “to pimp” one of instant victims, since defendant was able to impeach said witness on his incentive to testify on behalf of govt., and proposed testimony would not have shed any additional negative light on said witness under this record. Also, while Dist. Ct. erred in giving erroneous instruction to jury regarding whether defendant had consciously and carelessly ignored facts revealing that victims had been forced to commit commercial sex acts, said error did not require new trial, where said error was partially cured by other instructions, and where evidence overwhelmingly established requisite state of mind for instant charged offense.