Roseberline Turenne v. State of Maryland, No. 714, September Term 2022. Opinion by Wells, C. J. CRIMINAL LAW — CHILD PORNOGRAPHY — SEXUAL CONDUCT— “LASCIVIOUS EXHIBITION OF THE GENITALS” — STANDARD In 2019, the General Assembly added “lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person” to its definition of sexual conduct but left the word “lascivious” undefined. We decline to adopt either the federal courts’ leading definition of the term, or a minority’s definition. Instead, we adhere to a “totality of the circumstances” approach to determine whether a photograph depicting a child’s genitals constitutes “lascivious exhibition” as now codified in the statute. CRIMINAL LAW — CHILD PORNOGRAPHY — SEXUAL CONDUCT— “LASCIVIOUS EXHIBITION OF THE GENITALS” — SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE The evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the State, against the defendant, Roseberline Turenne, was sufficient to sustain her convictions for child pornography. The evidence showed that she had taken close-up photographs of the vaginas of several toddlers who were her charges at a daycare where Ms. Turenne worked under circumstances from which the jury could rationally infer she derived sexual gratification from the images. Circuit Court for Wicomico County Case No. C-22-CR-21-000263 REPORTED IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF MARYLAND* No. 714 September Term, 2022 ______________________________________ ROSEBERLINE TURENNE v. STATE OF MARYLAND ______________________________________ Wells, C.J., Arthur, Eyler, James R. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ. ______________________________________ Opinion by Wells, C.J. ______________________________________ Pursuant to the Maryland Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Filed: June 28, 2023 Act (§§ 10-1601 et seq. of the State Government Article) this document is authentic. 2023-06-28 13:20-04:00 Gregory Hilton, Clerk *At the November 8, 2022 general election, the voters of Maryland ratified a constitutional amendment changing the name of the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland to the Appellate Court of Maryland. The name change took effect on December 14, 2022. This case arises out of the State’s recovery of eight images of children’s genitalia taken by and stored on the cell phone of appellant, eighteen-year-old Roseberline Turenne. Turenne was charged in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County with eight counts of sexual abuse of a minor, eight counts of knowingly allowing a minor to engage as a subject in a visual representation that depicts a minor engaged as a subject in sexual conduct, and eight counts of possession of child pornography. A jury convicted Turenne of all counts, and the court sentenced her to 280 years of incarceration with all but 126 years suspended, followed by five years of probation, and lifetime registration as a sex offender. Turenne timely appealed and submits the following issues for our review, which we have slightly rephrased1: 1. Was the evidence insufficient to sustain Turenne’s convictions? 2. Did the court plainly err by failing to instruct the jury on the meaning of “lascivious exhibition” relating to the child pornography charges, and “sexual exploitation” relating to the sexual abuse of a minor charge? 3. Did the court plainly err by allowing the prosecutor to say in closing arguments …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals