Criminal Law-Sexual Abuse of Minor-Location of Offense-Sufficiency of Evidence

Defendant appealed his conviction for sexual abuse of a minor, attempted receipt of child pornography, witness tampering and other offenses. Defendant argued that the government failed to prove that certain sexual abuse offenses occurred in Indian country, that he sought sexually explicit images or that he knew the child pornography victim was a minor, or that he tampered with a witness.

Where the record was sufficient for the jury to infer the location of the charged offense and place it within the Pine Ridge Reservation, the government sufficiently proved that the location of defendant’s sexual abuse offense occurred within Indian country. However, the record did not show that defendant was contemplating a particular future legal proceeding when he asked a witness to change their testimony.

Kelly, J., concurring: “I concur in the court’s opinion but, as to Section IV, I concur only in the result, because I would reverse Goodlow’s witness tampering conviction under different reasoning.”

Judgment is affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for resentencing.

U.S. v. Goodlow (MLW No. 84560/Case No. 24-1851 – 12 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Kobes, J) Appealed from U.S. District Court, District of South Dakota, Schreier, J. (Rachael Steenholdt, AFPD, Fargo, ND for appellant) (Kevin Koliner, AUSA, Sioux Falls, SD for appellee; Anna Lindrooth, AUSA, Rapid City, SD on the brief)