United States v. Clark Downs ( 2023 )


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  • USCA11 Case: 21-10809    Document: 74-1      Date Filed: 03/13/2023   Page: 1 of 19
    [PUBLISH]
    In the
    United States Court of Appeals
    For the Eleventh Circuit
    ____________________
    No. 21-10809
    ____________________
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    Plaintiff-Appellee,
    versus
    CLARK DOWNS,
    Defendant-Appellant.
    ____________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Northern District of Florida
    D.C. Docket No. 5:19-cr-00039-TKW-MJF-1
    ____________________
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    2                      Opinion of the Court                21-10809
    Before JORDAN, ROSENBAUM, and NEWSOM, Circuit Judges.
    NEWSOM, Circuit Judge:
    We withdraw the opinion issued on January 6, 2023 and issue
    this opinion in its place.
    Clark Downs was convicted of producing and possessing
    child pornography in violation, respectively, of 
    18 U.S.C. §§ 2251
    (a)
    and 2252A(a)(5)(b). On appeal, he challenges his convictions on
    three grounds. First, he argues that the government failed to
    present sufficient evidence to satisfy § 2251(a)’s interstate-
    commerce element. Second, he contends that the district court
    reversibly erred when it discharged an impaneled-but-not-yet-
    sworn jury in his absence. Third, he asserts that the evidence was
    legally insufficient to establish production under § 2251(a) because
    of what he calls a “factual impossibility.”            After careful
    consideration, we affirm Downs’s convictions.
    I
    Downs was indicted in the Northern District of Florida for
    producing and possessing child pornography. Of particular
    relevance to this appeal is the production statute, which, in
    pertinent part, provides as follows:
    Any person who employs, uses, persuades, induces,
    entices, or coerces any minor to engage in . . . any
    sexually explicit conduct for the purpose
    of producing any visual depiction of such conduct or
    for the purpose of transmitting a live visual depiction
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    3                      Opinion of the Court                21-10809
    of such conduct, shall be punished . . . if that visual
    depiction was produced or transmitted using
    materials that have been mailed, shipped, or
    transported in or affecting interstate or foreign
    commerce        by     any     means,        including
    by computer . . . .
    
    18 U.S.C. § 2251
    (a).
    Downs’s trial was slated to begin in September 2020 in
    Pensacola, Florida. Early during the week of September 14, the
    district judge impaneled a jury. The judge and both parties agreed,
    however, not to swear the jury because a tropical storm that had
    been brewing in the Gulf of Mexico was soon set to make landfall.
    As it turned out, by the time the storm reached Pensacola, it had
    become a Category 2 hurricane, and it flooded downtown,
    disrupted internet service, and downed telephone lines and bridges
    in the area surrounding the courthouse.
    Shortly after the storm passed, the judge scheduled a
    teleconference to discuss next steps. Downs was not present at the
    conference, in part because the internet and telephone lines at his
    prison facility were down. During the conference, the judge
    informed the parties that he intended to continue the trial for three
    weeks. He planned to contact the as-yet unsworn jurors to ask
    whether they could accommodate the new trial calendar. If any of
    the jurors was unavailable for the new trial date, the judge
    explained, he would dismiss the entire jury and impanel a new one.
    Downs’s lawyer suggested that the judge consider discharging and
    replacing only the jurors for whom the new trial date wouldn’t
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    4                      Opinion of the Court                21-10809
    work, but the judge declined that suggestion. Instead, per his plan,
    the judge discharged the entire jury after learning that one of the
    members couldn’t make the new date. Downs unsuccessfully
    moved the judge to reconsider his decision.
    The case ultimately went to trial a month and a half later
    before a new jury, which was impaneled and sworn in the presence
    of all parties, including Downs. At the trial, Downs’s victim, L.H.,
    testified that Downs was a family friend of her mother, L.L. Cox,
    and L.L.’s husband, Jimmy Cox. Each summer, she said, the Coxes
    would drive L.L.’s three children to Downs’s home in the Florida
    Panhandle. During one of those trips, when L.H. was 15 years old,
    Downs asked her to undress and took photos of her using a “flip
    phone” on at least three occasions. L.H. explained that Downs told
    her that he later transferred the photos to his home computer.
    Several law-enforcement officers testified that they found
    explicit photos of L.H. on Downs’s home computer during their
    investigation. One of the investigators confirmed that the
    computer’s internal hard drives were manufactured in China and
    that the external drives were made in Thailand. Subsequent
    forensic analysis revealed that the photos found on the hard drives
    were taken with a Samsung SCH-S738C model cell phone. On
    cross-examination, the same investigator admitted that he didn’t
    know whether that particular model was a flip phone, and no
    testimony was elicited regarding where the Samsung was
    manufactured.
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    5                          Opinion of the Court                      21-10809
    Following the prosecution’s case-in-chief, Downs moved for
    judgment of acquittal, arguing that the government had failed to
    present sufficient evidence to satisfy § 2251(a)’s interstate-
    commerce element. The district judge denied Downs’s motion.
    Downs was convicted on both the production and possession
    counts. The court sentenced him to 300 months’ imprisonment on
    the former and a concurrent term of 120 months’ imprisonment on
    the latter, followed by two concurrent 10-year terms of supervised
    release.
    On appeal, Downs challenges his convictions on three
    grounds, which we will consider in turn.
    II
    Downs first contends that the government presented
    insufficient evidence to satisfy the production statute’s interstate-
    commerce element. The reason, he says, is because the
    government introduced no evidence that the Samsung phone with
    which he took the photos of L.H. ever traveled in interstate
    commerce. But, of course, the government did produce evidence
    that the hard drives to which Downs transferred the photos were
    manufactured overseas. The question thus turns on whether the
    act of transferring the photos from cell phone to hard drive can itself
    constitute the “produc[tion]” prohibited by § 2251(a). 1
    1 There is some doubt about whether Downs properly preserved his
    sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge—and if he didn’t, how that failure affects
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    6                           Opinion of the Court                         21-10809
    We begin, as always, with the statute’s plain language.
    Again, § 2251(a) states, in relevant part, that “[a]ny person who
    employs, uses, persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any minor to
    engage in . . . any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose
    of producing any visual depiction of such conduct or for the
    purpose of transmitting a live visual depiction of such conduct, shall
    be punished . . . if that visual depiction was produced or transmitted
    using materials that have been mailed, shipped, or transported in or
    affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including
    the standard of review. He contended that the evidence was insufficient to
    meet the statute’s interstate-commerce element, but on a different basis than
    he argues on appeal. At least one of our cases states that “[w]here the specific
    grounds upon which a defendant made his sufficiency-of-the-evidence
    challenge at trial differs from those he asserts on appeal, we review under his
    new theory only for manifest miscarriage of justice.” United States v.
    Ezquenazi, 
    752 F.3d 912
    , 935 (11th Cir. 2014) (emphasis added). But other
    decisions suggest that the deferential manifest-miscarriage-of-justice standard
    applies only where a defendant failed to raise a sufficiency challenge in district
    court at all. See, e.g., United States v. Fries, 
    725 F.3d 1286
    , 1291 (11th Cir. 2013)
    (“[W]here a defendant does not move for acquittal or otherwise preserve an
    argument regarding the sufficiency of the evidence in the court below, . . . we
    will reverse the conviction only where doing so is necessary to prevent a
    manifest miscarriage of justice.”); United States v. 
    Thompson, 610
     F.3d 1335,
    1338 (11th Cir. 2010) (per curiam) (applying the manifest-miscarriage-of-justice
    standard where the defendant never moved for a judgment of acquittal on
    certain counts at issue on appeal); United States v. Tagg, 
    572 F.3d 1320
    , 1323
    (11th Cir. 2009) (reviewing for manifest miscarriage of justice where “[a]t no
    time did the defense move for a judgment of acquittal”). We needn’t resolve
    the issue here, because we conclude, for reasons explained in text, that even on
    the more indulgent de novo standard, Downs’s sufficiency challenge fails.
    United States v. Diaz, 
    248 F.3d 1065
    , 1084 (11th Cir. 2001).
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    7                      Opinion of the Court                21-10809
    by computer . . . .” 
    18 U.S.C. § 2251
    (a) (emphasis added). Section
    2256(3), in turn, defines the key term “producing” to mean
    “producing, directing, manufacturing, issuing, publishing, or
    advertising.” 
    Id.
     § 2256(3).
    Based on the statutory text alone, we might be inclined to
    conclude that a defendant’s act of transferring photos from his
    phone to a hard drive does not amount to “producing” them. That
    is so for two reasons. First, none of § 2256(3)’s definitions of the
    word “producing”—“directing, manufacturing, issuing, publishing,
    or advertising”—clearly covers the act of transferring photos from
    one device to another. Second, § 2251(a) itself targets two different
    actions—“producing” and “transmitting.” Between the two, the
    latter would seem to be the more natural linguistic basis for
    capturing the act of transferring photos. Here, though, the
    government hasn’t relied on § 2251(a)’s prohibition on
    “transmi[ssion],” perhaps having assumed that it refers only to “live
    visual depiction[s]” of the sort not at issue in this case.
    For his part, though, Downs seems to concede—or at least
    not to dispute—that, as used in § 2251(a), the term “producing” is
    properly read to cover the act of transferring photos from phone to
    hard drive. See Br. of Appellant at 20. He does so presumably on
    the ground that our precedent requires as much. Having carefully
    considered the issue, we agree.
    Although we haven’t specifically considered the definition of
    the term “producing” in the production statute, we have examined
    its meaning in the possession statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a).
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    8                      Opinion of the Court                21-10809
    Specifically, in United States v. Maxwell, we held that the act of
    copying photos from a phone to an external drive constitutes
    “produc[tion]” within the meaning of § 2252A(a). See 
    386 F.3d 1042
    , 1051–52 (11th Cir. 2004), vacated on other grounds, 
    546 U.S. 801
     (2005).
    We find that Maxwell controls here for two reasons. First,
    the statutory definition of the word “producing” applies to both the
    possession and production provisions. See 
    18 U.S.C. § 2256
    (3)
    (defining “producing” “[f]or the purposes of this chapter,” including
    §§ 2251 and 2252A). And second, the production and possession
    statutes use the term in fundamentally the same way. Compare id.
    § 2251(a) (“[I]f that visual depiction was produced or transmitted
    using materials that have been mailed, shipped, or transported in or
    affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means . . . .”), with
    id. § 2252A(a)(5)(B) (“[C]hild pornography . . . that was produced
    using materials that have been mailed, or shipped or transported in
    or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means….”).
    Accordingly, our interpretation of the word “producing” in
    Maxwell to cover the act of transferring a photograph from a phone
    to an external drive—albeit there with respect to a possession
    charge—controls our interpretation of the same term here.
    For what it’s worth, other circuits have come to the same
    conclusion. In United States v. Angle, for instance, the Seventh
    Circuit held, as we did in Maxwell, that the term “producing” in the
    possession statute covers the act of transferring photos from a
    phone to an external drive. See 
    234 F.3d 326
    , 341 (7th Cir. 2000). In
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    9                         Opinion of the Court                      21-10809
    a follow-on case, that court held—as we do today—that the
    production statute’s use of the same § 2256(3)-based definition of
    the term “producing” meant that it should be understood to reach
    the act of transferring, as well. See United States v. Foley, 
    740 F.3d 1079
    , 1083–86 (7th Cir. 2014). Relying heavily on the Seventh
    Circuit’s reasoning in Foley, the Second Circuit likewise held in
    United States v. Pattee that the term “producing” in the production
    statute should be read to include the act of copying photos to a hard
    drive. See 
    820 F.3d 496
    , 509–11 (2d Cir. 2016). And finally, even in
    the absence of Maxwell- or Foley-like precedent interpreting the
    possession statute’s use of the word “producing,” the First Circuit
    held that the production statute’s use of that term covered the act
    of transferring photos from a phone to an external storage device.
    See United States v. Poulin, 
    631 F.3d 17
    , 22 (1st Cir. 2011). Indeed,
    even the decision on which Downs principally relies, United States
    v. Lively, recognizes “that ‘producing’ child pornography, as used
    in § 2251(a), encompasses copying images onto a hard drive.” 
    852 F.3d 549
    , 560 (6th Cir. 2017). 2
    2  Downs’s reliance on Lively is misplaced. Lively is distinguishable from this
    case in an important respect. As best we can tell from its opinion, the Sixth
    Circuit held there that copying photos from a phone to a hard drive did not
    constitute “production” within the meaning of § 2251(a) where the defendant
    had abused the child, but another person had both taken the photos and then
    copied them to a hard drive. Lively, 
    852 F.3d at 561
    . That, the Sixth Circuit
    seemed to say, was because (1) the “purpose” mens rea element that appears
    in the statute’s first clause must carry through to the interstate-commerce
    clause, and (2) it doesn’t when the defendant neither took nor transferred the
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    10                       Opinion of the Court                   21-10809
    Downs nonetheless insists that the production statute’s mens
    rea element requires that there be an interstate-commerce
    connection at the moment of initial creation. Recall that the statute
    requires that the offender “employ[], use[], persuade[], induce[],
    entice[], or coerce[] any minor to engage in . . . any sexually explicit
    conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such
    conduct” if that depiction was “produced or transmitted using
    materials that have been mailed, shipped, or transported in or
    affecting interstate or foreign commerce.” 
    18 U.S.C. § 2251
    (a)
    (emphasis added). From that language, Downs reasons that the
    interstate-commerce element “must be satisfied by an examination
    of the means or materials used at the point in time of the original
    production.” Br. of Appellant at 15.
    Downs’s argument, though, can’t survive his concession—or
    at the very least, his failure to contest—that the transfer of photos
    from a phone to a hard drive constitutes “produc[tion].” From that
    starting point, our decision in United States v. Grzybowicz, 
    747 F.3d 1296
     (11th Cir. 2014), resolves the interstate-commerce issue.
    There, we interpreted the statutory language of the production
    statute to mean that “[t]he interstate commerce element . . . is
    satisfied by proof that the child pornography . . . was produced using
    materials that had been transported in interstate or foreign
    commerce.” 
    Id. at 1306
     (emphasis added). If, as all here seem to
    agree under Maxwell, the transfer of the photos to the hard drive
    photos. 
    Id.
     at 562–63. Here, of course, one person—Downs—abused the child,
    took the photos, and downloaded them to a hard drive.
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    11                     Opinion of the Court                21-10809
    constitutes the required “produc[tion],” and if, as the evidence
    shows, the hard drives were manufactured overseas, then the
    necessary nexus exists between the actionable “produc[tion]” and
    interstate commerce.
    To the extent that Downs means to argue that there was
    insufficient evidence to demonstrate that, at the time he originally
    captured the pornographic photos on his phone, he intended to
    transfer them to his computer, we disagree for two reasons. First,
    based on our decision in Maxwell—and our sister circuits’ similar
    decisions in Foley, Pattee, and Poulin—we reject the premises (1)
    that “produc[tion]” is limited to the moment of an image’s initial
    creation and (2) that a defendant’s intent must therefore be assessed
    at that time. Second, and in any event, when viewed in the light
    most favorable to the government, the evidence defeats Downs’s
    contention. The proof at trial showed (1) that investigators found
    pornography of L.H., as well as illicit photos of other children, on
    Downs’s computer; (2) that Downs sexually abused L.H. and took
    nude photos of her in his car, on the beach, and in motel rooms
    when she was only 15 years old; (3) that Downs would drive for
    more than an hour in some cases to abuse L.H., presumably so that
    no one else—most notably her family—would be around when he
    did; and (4) that Downs transferred the photos he took of L.H. from
    his phone to his home computer, and had in fact told L.H. as much.
    From that evidence, a jury could have reasonably concluded that
    Downs had the requisite intent to “produce” child pornography
    when he originally captured the photos of L.H.
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    12                     Opinion of the Court                 21-10809
    III
    Downs separately contends that the district court reversibly
    erred when it discharged the impaneled-but-as-yet-unsworn jury in
    his absence. Downs makes two arguments in this regard: first, that
    the district court judge shouldn’t have dismissed the entire panel;
    and second, regardless whether that decision was proper, that
    Downs should have been present when the decision was made.
    We’ll take Downs’s arguments in turn.
    A
    A defendant only has the right to have his case decided by a
    particular jury once jeopardy attaches. United States v. Therve, 
    764 F.3d 1293
    , 1298 (11th Cir. 2014). Jeopardy doesn’t attach until a jury
    is both impaneled and sworn. 
    Id.
    Here, Downs’s initial jury was impaneled, but not sworn. In
    fact, the record shows that both parties agreed not to swear the jury
    given the impending storm—and, further, that once the storm had
    made landfall, Downs’s lawyer admitted that he was “glad the jury
    wasn’t sworn” because it gave the court the necessary flexibility to
    make new trial arrangements. Because the jury wasn’t sworn,
    jeopardy never attached. And absent jeopardy, Downs had no right
    to have his case decided by the particular jury that the judge had
    initially impaneled. Accordingly, the district court did not err when
    it discharged the entire panel.
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    13                      Opinion of the Court                 21-10809
    B
    Downs also argues that he was impermissibly excluded from
    the conference at which the judge decided to discharge the jury.
    We have explained that a defendant’s right to be present during
    criminal proceedings stems from “the Confrontation Clause of the
    Sixth Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth
    Amendment, and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 43.” United
    States v. Novaton, 
    271 F.3d 968
    , 997 (11th Cir. 2001). Downs
    contends that each of those provides a basis for reversal here.
    Downs’s lawyer didn’t object to his client’s absence from the
    teleconference in which the judge decided to discharge the jury.
    When a party fails to object to his absence from a proceeding, we
    review only for plain error. See United States v. Martinez, 
    604 F.2d 361
    , 365 (5th Cir. 1979). We can reverse on plain-error review only
    if: (1) there was an error; (2) that error was plain; (3) the error
    affected the defendant’s substantial rights; and (4) the error
    seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the
    judicial proceedings. United States v. Cingari, 
    952 F.3d 1301
    , 1305
    (11th Cir. 2020) (quotation marks omitted).
    Downs’s constitutional arguments are unavailing because he
    has failed to show any error—plain or otherwise—under either the
    Fifth or Sixth Amendment. With respect to the latter, the
    Confrontation Clause provides that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions,
    the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the
    witnesses against him.” U.S. Const. amend. VI (emphasis added).
    Needless to say, there were no “witnesses” at the conference at
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    14                      Opinion of the Court                 21-10809
    which the judge was considering what to do with Downs’s
    impaneled-but-not-yet-sworn jury. And we have held that the Sixth
    Amendment “does not confer upon the defendant the right to be
    present at every conference at which a matter pertinent to the case
    is discussed, or even at every conference with the trial judge at
    which a matter relevant to the case is discussed.” United States v.
    Vasquez, 
    732 F.2d 846
    , 848 (11th Cir. 1984). Here, a pretrial
    meeting about the discharge of an unsworn jury does not implicate
    the Confrontation Clause.
    Downs’s Fifth Amendment argument likewise fails. We
    have assumed that even when the defendant is not confronting
    witnesses or evidence against him, he has a due-process right “to be
    present in his own person whenever his presence has a relation,
    reasonably substantial, to the fullness of his opportunity to defend
    against the charge.” Novaton, 
    271 F.3d at 998
     (quoting Kentucky v.
    Stincer, 
    482 U.S. 730
    , 745 (1987)). The government’s and defense’s
    cases-in-chief are paradigmatic stages of a criminal proceeding with
    respect to which the Due Process Clause protects a defendant’s
    right to be on hand. 
    Id.
     The reason, of course, is that at those
    junctures, a defendant’s right to defend against the charges before
    him is at an apex. Here, by contrast, a judge’s decision whether to
    discharge an unsworn jury in Downs’s absence doesn’t trigger the
    same concerns. The discharge decision is not “critical to [the trial’s]
    outcome” because it doesn’t interfere with a defendant’s ability to
    defend against the charges before him, nor does the defendant’s
    absence “thwart[]” the fairness of his hearing. 
    Id.
     By all accounts,
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    15                       Opinion of the Court                   21-10809
    Downs was present for all stages of his trial that would implicate his
    right to a fair and just hearing. That is all the Due Process Clause
    requires.
    Downs’s argument under Federal Rule of Criminal
    Procedure 43, by contrast, has merit. In relevant part, Rule 43 states
    that “[u]nless this rule, Rule 5, or Rule 10 provides otherwise, the
    defendant must be present at: (1) the initial appearance, the initial
    arraignment, and the plea; (2) every trial stage, including jury
    impanelment and the return of the verdict; and (3) sentencing.”
    Fed. R. Crim. P. 43(a). Accordingly, to determine whether Rule 43
    gave Downs a right to be present for the conference at which the
    judge considered whether to discharge the impaneled-but-not-yet-
    sworn jury, we must consider two questions. First, is jury discharge
    a “trial stage” within the meaning of Rule 43(a)(2)? And if so, do
    any of Rule 43’s exceptions apply?
    The Rule’s language and structure convince us that the
    answer to the first question is yes—jury discharge is a “trial stage.”
    Rule 43(a) subdivides district-court proceedings into three phases:
    pre-trial, in subsection (1); trial, in subsection (2); and post-trial, in
    subsection (3). Subsection (2)’s language indicates an all-
    encompassing, “soup-to-nuts” coverage of the trial phase, extending
    to “every trial stage,” from “jury impanelment” at the very
    beginning of trial to “the return of the verdict” at the tail end. If,
    per the Rule’s plain language, jury impanelment is a “trial stage” at
    which a defendant has a right to be present, it seems clear enough
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    16                     Opinion of the Court                21-10809
    that any necessarily subsequent (but pre-verdict) jury discharge is,
    too.
    Resolution of the issue thus turns on whether any of Rule
    43’s “unless”-based exceptions applies. None does. Neither Rule 5
    nor Rule 10 has any relevance here—the former applies to the initial
    appearance, and the latter to the arraignment. Nor do any of the
    exceptions specified in “this Rule”—i.e., Rule 43 itself—exempt the
    jury-discharge conference at issue. Rule 43(b) specifies four
    “circumstances” in which the defendant’s presence is “[n]ot
    [r]equired,” but the only one of those that could even arguably
    apply here is where “[t]he proceeding involves only a conference or
    hearing on a question of law.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 43(b)(3). But a
    review of the transcript from the jury-discharge conference reveals
    that the parties and the judge never discussed any “question[s] of
    law”; to the contrary, their discussion focused entirely on the
    practical difficulties posed by the hurricane.
    Because jury discharge is a “trial stage” within the meaning
    of Rule 43(a)(2), and because none of Rule 43’s exceptions applies,
    we hold that Downs had a right to be present when the impaneled-
    but-not-yet-sworn jury was discharged. Accordingly, his absence
    from that conference constitutes error—and we think plain error—
    under Rule 43. Even so, Downs must show that the error affected
    his substantial rights. Cingari, 952 F.3d at 1305. For three reasons,
    he can’t do so. First, Downs’s lawyer was present and represented
    his interests when the judge decided to discharge the jury. At the
    conference, Downs’s counsel suggested an alternative to
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    17                      Opinion of the Court                 21-10809
    discharging the entire jury panel, which the judge summarily
    rejected. Moreover, the transcript makes clear that no matter what
    argument Downs’s lawyer made, the judge intended to discharge
    the entire jury if even a single member wouldn’t be available at the
    later date. Even now, having presumably consulted with his client,
    Downs’s lawyer doesn’t offer any new arguments against
    discharging the jury. So, it seems clear enough that Downs’s
    presence wouldn’t have made a difference to the ultimate outcome.
    Second, Downs only “speculate[s] as to whether the replaced
    juror[s] may have been more favorably disposed to [him] . . . .”
    United States v. Puche, 
    350 F.3d 1137
    , 1153 (11th Cir. 2003). We
    require more for reversal than bald assertions that a different jury
    would have reached a different verdict. Accordingly, Downs has
    not shown that the error affected his substantial rights. 
    Id.
    Finally, the action that the judge took after discharging the
    initial jury is the very action that would have been required to
    remedy a Rule 43 violation—namely, impaneling a new jury. So
    even if Downs could show that his presence would have changed
    the judge’s decision to dismiss the jury, the judge’s subsequent
    impaneling of a proper jury cures any potential harm.
    IV
    Lastly, Downs contends that the government’s evidence was
    legally insufficient due to what he calls a “factual impossibility.” As
    already explained, at trial, L.H. testified that Downs took photos of
    her in a state of undress using a “flip phone.” Subsequent testimony
    USCA11 Case: 21-10809     Document: 74-1     Date Filed: 03/13/2023    Page: 18 of 19
    18                     Opinion of the Court                21-10809
    from a forensic analyst revealed that the photos were taken with a
    Samsung SCH-S738C. On appeal, Downs asserts that a Samsung
    SCH-S738C isn’t a flip phone and can’t be confused with one. He
    argues, therefore, that L.H.’s testimony was factually impossible,
    leaving the evidence legally insufficient for conviction. We review
    only for plain error because Downs didn’t raise factual impossibility
    as a basis for granting his motion for judgment of acquittal. See
    United States v. Hunerlach, 
    197 F.3d 1059
    , 1068 (11th Cir. 1999).
    With respect, Downs misunderstands factual impossibility.
    “Factual impossibility occurs when the objective of the defendant is
    proscribed by the criminal law but a circumstance unknown to the
    actor prevents him from bringing about that objective.” United
    States v. Delgado, 
    321 F.3d 1338
    , 1346 (11th Cir. 2003) (citations
    omitted). That isn’t Downs’s contention, and for good reason:
    Using a flip- (or non-flip-) phone doesn’t make the production of
    child pornography impossible. Instead, Downs insists that a
    discrepancy in the evidence—about whether or not he used a flip-
    phone to take the photos—fatally undermines the jury’s verdict. At
    worst, that’s a factual ambiguity, not a factual impossibility.
    Credibility questions are the exclusive province of the jury,
    and on sufficiency review we must assume that they were answered
    in a manner that supports the verdict, see United States v. Jiminez,
    
    564 F.3d 1280
    , 1285 (11th Cir. 2009), unless witness testimony is
    “unbelievable” as a matter of law, United States v. Ramirez-Chilel,
    
    289 F.3d 744
    , 749 (11th Cir. 2002). Here, L.H. testified that the
    photos were taken with a flip phone, and the forensic analyst stated
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    19                        Opinion of the Court                     21-10809
    that the photos were taken with a Samsung SCH-S738C. No
    testimony was elicited as to whether that Samsung model was or
    was not a flip phone. The jury was entitled to resolve that
    evidentiary ambiguity. 3
    * * *
    For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Downs’s convictions.
    AFFIRMED.
    3And to be clear, the jury heard evidence from which it could have reconciled
    any perceived inconsistency. The testimony revealed, for instance, that L.H.
    was drunk at the time that Downs took the pictures of her, and four years had
    elapsed between the time that Downs took the photos and the time that L.H.
    reported the event to law enforcement. Accordingly, the jury could have
    concluded that L.H. was simply confused about the type of phone that Downs
    had used. Separately, the jury heard testimony that investigators found a flip
    phone at Downs’s residence, from which it could have adduced that L.H.
    remembered that Downs used a flip phone at times and just misremembered
    the precise details about the time when he took pictures of her.