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First Amendment Must Yield to Child Pornography Law

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
May 01, 2004

Facing its first constitutional challenge to the Florida Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 1986, Fla. Stat. ch. 847.0135(3) (2001) (the Act), the Florida Court of Appeals recently scored a victory for child protection advocates and law enforcement in Cashatt v. State of Florida, Case No. 1D02-4638, 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 5656 (April 26, 2004).

Cashatt, a retired U.S. Navy officer, pled no contest to a violation of the Act, after he was arrested for arranging, over the Internet, to meet with a detective, who was posing as a 14-year-old boy, for the purpose of participating in illegal sexual activities. On appeal, defendant challenged the facial constitutionality of the Act and argued that the statute was invalid for failure to state a mens rea or scienter requirement.

The appellate court ruled that even if the Act was considered a content-based restriction on constitutionally protected speech, it passed the “strict scrutiny” test because it promoted a compelling state interest in protecting children from persons who solicited or lured them to commit illegal acts, and was narrowly tailored to promote that interest, specifically limiting its prohibitions to communication intended to solicit or lure a child to commit illegal acts.

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