United States v. Richard Kucera
Split Score
What is a Split Score?
This score (0-100) indicates how likely this case is to be reviewed by the Supreme Court based on:
Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
The Eighth Circuit affirmed Richard Alan Kucera’s convictions for sex-trafficking minors and producing child pornography. The court upheld the denial of Kucera’s suppression motion, rejected challenges to jury instructions on §1591 and §2251(a), and held that neither the statute nor the Constitution requires the government to prove Kucera knew the victims’ ages or to allow a mistake-of-age defense.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) requires (or the First Amendment mandates) recognition of an affirmative mistake-of-age defense/knowledge requirement regarding a victim’s minority in child-pornography-production prosecutions.
Circuit Positions
No scienter or mistake-of-age defense required; §2251(a) imposes strict liability regarding the victim’s minority.
First Amendment compels recognition of a reasonable mistake-of-age affirmative defense to §2251(a).
Conflict Summary
The Eighth Circuit treats §2251(a) as a strict-liability statute as to the victim’s age and expressly disallows any mistake-of-age defense, while the Ninth Circuit has held that the First Amendment requires courts to permit a reasonable mistake-of-age defense for §2251(a) offenses.