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Usav.Matthew Bryan Caniff

CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Docket No.17-12410
DecidedApril 9, 2020
Reporter916 F.3d 929
JudgesUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Tags
CriminalCriminal LawCriminal ProcedureSex CrimesTales From the CryptDigital EvidenceStatutory InterpretationRule of LenityReversalSpecial Concurrence
Case Summary

Matthew Caniff was convicted of federal child-sex offenses after exchanging private text messages with an undercover agent posing as a thirteen-year-old girl. On reconsideration, the Eleventh Circuit withdrew and replaced its earlier published opinion. The court reversed Caniff’s conviction under the federal statute prohibiting making a notice to receive child pornography, holding that a private, person-to-person request for explicit images did not constitute making a notice within the statute’s meaning. The court affirmed his convictions under two other federal provisions and rejected his remaining evidentiary challenges. The panel resolved the statutory ambiguity through the rule of lenity, explaining that the criminal provision could not fairly be extended to the conduct beyond its clear text. Judge Newsom concurred in the revised opinion and reiterated that the statute did not clearly reach private text messages.

Opinion

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The Far Side
Usa V. Matthew Bryan Caniff — The Atlanta Gleaner