Commonwealth v. Jones ( 2015 )

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SJC-11717
COMMONWEALTH vs. ROBERT JONES.
Middlesex. December 1, 2014. - April 9, 2015.
Present: Gants, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Duffly, Lenk, &
Hines, JJ.
Indecent Assault and Battery. Obscenity, Dissemination of
matter harmful to minor. Statute, Validity.
Constitutional Law, Freedom of speech and press. Practice,
Criminal, Argument by prosecutor.
Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court
Department on April 26, 2012.
The cases were tried before Maureen B. Hogan, J.
The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for
direct appellate review.
Rebecca A. Jacobstein, Committee for Public Counsel
Services, for the defendant.
Anne M. Paruti, Assistant District Attorney (Jessica L.
Langsam, Assistant District Attorney, with her) for the
Commonwealth.
GANTS, C.J. A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant
on two indictments charging indecent assault and battery on a
2
child under fourteen, in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 13B, and
one indictment charging dissemination of matter harmful to
minors, in violation of G. L. c. 272, § 28.1 The defendant
presents two claims on appeal. First, he contends that, during
the time period alleged in the indictment, § 28 was facially
overbroad because it did not explicitly require the Commonwealth
to prove that the defendant knew that the person receiving the
harmful matter was a minor. Second, he argues that the
prosecutor's closing argument created a substantial risk of a
miscarriage of justice by suggesting that the defendant would
have committed further sexual offenses against one of the child
victims had the child not moved away. We conclude that, during
the relevant time period, § 28 was not unconstitutionally
overbroad because we interpret the statute to have implicitly
required knowledge that the recipient was a minor as an element
of the crime. We also conclude that the prosecutor's suggestion
that the defendant would have committed further sexual offenses
against the victim was improper but, in the context of the
entire closing argument, did not create a substantial risk of a
miscarriage of justice. We therefore affirm the convictions.
Background. The two victims were the defendant's nephews,
sons of two different sisters of the defendant. In 2006, one
1
An additional charge of indecent assault and battery on a
child under fourteen was nol prossed before trial.
3
victim, C.J., who was approximately eleven years old, moved with
his mother and younger brother to Woburn, which is also where
the defendant was living at C.J.'s grandmother's house. A few
days during each school week, and nearly every day during the
summer, C.J. went to his grandmother's house where he and the
defendant spent time together playing video games, using a
computer, and playing sports. Because C.J. looked up to the
defendant as a father figure, he did not feel uncomfortable when
the defendant began asking him about his physical development
through puberty. The defendant would routinely ask C.J. about
any physical changes to his body and at one point asked if he
had started to "play" with his genitals.
In the summer of 2007, when C.J. was approximately twelve
years old, the defendant began asking to see his genitals. With
no one else in the room, the defendant and C.J. would often be
sitting on the bed in the defendant's bedroom, playing video
games or watching television, and the defendant would ask to see
if any pubescent changes had occurred. C.J. would then stand
up or kneel on the bed and pull down his pants and underwear;
the defendant would look and touch with his hand the pubic
region immediately above C.J.'s penis, but would not touch the
penis itself. The defendant did not show his genitals to C.J.
or ask C.J. to perform any sexual act with the defendant.
4
This pattern of asking to see C.J's genitals and touching
his pubic region occurred at least twice a week, and continued
for about one year before C.J. began to feel uncomfortable.
C.J. first viewed these interactions as appropriate for a father
figure to have with a son, but he felt more uncomfortable after
he recognized that the defendant was asking to see his genitals
nearly every time he visited.2 These interactions between the
defendant and the victim stopped after C.J's family moved to
Tewksbury in the summer of 2008, and shortly thereafter moved to
New Hampshire.
The second victim, J.B., also lived in Woburn, with his
mother, stepfather, and sister. In 2007, J.B. was approximately
nine years old and in fourth grade, and often went after school
to his grandmother's house, where the defendant lived. The
defendant and J.B. had a close relationship; they played sports,
attended sporting events, and went ice-skating together. For
three years, when J.B. was in the fourth, fifth, and sixth
grades, the defendant went to his house to watch almost every
Boston Bruins hockey game.
2
The defendant also routinely kissed C.J. on the lips when
they parted. C.J. testified that kissing on the lips was a
common greeting or farewell gesture in his family, but he
started to feel uncomfortable when the defendant began kissing
him multiple times and holding the kiss longer.
5
In the summer before J.B. was starting either fourth or
fifth grade, the defendant asked him how puberty was going, but
he did not know what puberty was. The defendant did not raise
the topic again until the following winter. While the defendant
and J.B. were alone watching television, the defendant asked,
"How is puberty hitting you?" The defendant said, "Well, let me
see then. I'll tell you how puberty is." J.B. then pulled down
his pants and boxer shorts. From this point forward, about
every other week, the defendant asked to see J.B.'s penis and
J.B. showed him. The defendant did not touch J.B.'s penis
during these interactions.
On one occasion, when J.B. was in fifth grade, sometime
between 2007 and 2008, the defendant asked him to look at
something on the defendant's computer. J.B. sat on the
defendant's lap while the defendant opened a computer program
used for downloading music and video recordings. As the
defendant scrolled through a list of pornographic video
recordings, J.B. saw images of nude adult men and women
displaying their genitals and engaging in sexual intercourse.
The defendant then played a specific video recording, which
showed a group of nude women using icicles as sexual toys. The
defendant asked J.B. if he had ever searched for materials
similar to what was shown in the video recording, and J.B. said
6
"no." As they watched the video recording, the defendant
unbuttoned J.B.'s pants and pulled down his pants and boxer
shorts. The defendant grabbed J.B.'s penis and stroked it with
two of his fingers. J.B. did not recall any other instance
where the defendant touched his genitals or showed him
pornography.
Discussion. 1. Dissemination of matter harmful to minors.
At the time of the charged conduct, G. L. c. 272, § 28, as
appearing in St. 1982, c. 603, § 2, provided, "Whoever
disseminates to a minor any matter harmful to minors, as defined
in [G. L. c. 272, § 31], knowing it to be harmful to minors, or
has in his possession any such matter with the intent to
disseminate the same to minors" shall be guilty of a crime.3
Since then, the scope of the statute has twice been amended. In
2010, the Legislature amended § 31 to add to the definition of
"matter" "any electronic communication including, but not
limited to, electronic mail, instant messages, text messages, or
any other communication created by means of use of the Internet
3
"Harmful to minors" is defined as "matter" that is
"obscene, or if taken as a whole, . . . (1) describes or
represents nudity, sexual conduct or sexual excitement, so as to
appeal predominantly to the prurient interest of minors; (2) is
patently contrary to prevailing standards of adults in the
county where the offense was committed as to suitable material
for such minors; and (3) lacks serious literary, artistic,
political or scientific value for minors." G. L. c. 272, § 31.
"Minor" is defined as "a person under eighteen years of age."
Id.
7
or wireless network." St. 2010, c. 74 § 2.4 In 2011, the
Legislature amended § 28 explicitly to require that the
dissemination be purposeful and "to a person [the defendant]
knows or believes to be a minor." St. 2011, c. 9, § 19.5,6
4
This amendment was enacted after we held that the earlier
definition of "matter" in § 31 did not encompass electronically
transmitted texts or online conversations. See Commonwealth v.
Zubiel, 456 Mass. 27, 33 (2010).
5
The amended G. L. c. 272, § 28, now reads, in relevant
part, "Whoever purposefully disseminates to a person he knows or
believes to be a minor any matter harmful to minors . . .
knowing it to be harmful to minors, or has in his possession any
such matter with the intent to disseminate the same to a person
he knows or believes to be a minor, shall be punished . . . . A
person who disseminates an electronic communication . . . shall
not be found to have violated this section unless he
specifically intends to direct the communication to a person he
knows or believes to be a minor" (emphasis added). St. 2011,
c. 9, § 19.
6
The 2011 amendment of § 28 followed the issuance of a
preliminary injunction by a judge of the United States District
Court for the District of Massachusetts, who declared that the
2010 amendments to § 31, as incorporated within § 28, violated
the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. American
Booksellers Found. for Free Expression vs. Coakley, U.S. Dist
Ct., No. 10-11165-RWZ, at 9 (D. Mass. Oct. 26, 2010). The
preliminary injunction arose from a civil suit filed by several
individuals and organizations that used the Internet to
disseminate sex-related information. Id. at 1, 4. The
plaintiffs argued that § 28 was unconstitutionally overbroad
because it did not require that a defendant know that the
intended recipient of the harmful matter was a minor. Id. at 4-
5. The plaintiffs reasoned that those who disseminate "sexually
frank" information through a generally accessible Web site
cannot verify the age of every individual who accesses their Web
site; therefore, they cannot prevent minors from viewing
information that might be harmful to them but appropriate for
adults, without significantly limiting adults from accessing
this information. Id. at 4, 5 n.3. The Commonwealth agreed
8
The defendant contends that until § 28 was amended to
require, as an element of the offense, that the defendant
disseminated the harmful matter to a person "he knows or
believes to be a minor," the statute was substantially overbroad
in violation of the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution and art. 16 of the Massachusetts Declaration of
Rights. "The First Amendment doctrine of substantial
overbreadth . . . is predicated on the danger that an overly
broad statute, if left in place, may cause persons whose
expression is constitutionally protected to refrain from
exercising their rights for fear of criminal sanctions"
(citations omitted). Massachusetts v. Oakes, 491 U.S. 576, 581
(1989) (opinion of O'Connor, J.). Although the defendant does
not contend that he did not know that the victims were minors,
he need not do so in order to challenge the constitutionality of
the statute, because the overbreadth doctrine "is an exception
to the general rule that a person to whom a statute may be
constitutionally applied cannot challenge the statute on the
ground that it may be unconstitutionally applied to others."
that, if § 28 did not require that the sender know that the
recipient was a minor, the statute would be unconstitutionally
overbroad. Id. at 5. The judge noted that she could not
construe the statute to require such knowledge as an element of
the offense because "in the absence of an explicit state court
adjudication . . . revision of a state statute by a federal
court would be inappropriate." Id. at 7.
9
Id. See Bulldog Investors Gen. Partnership v. Secretary of the
Commonwealth, 460 Mass. 647, 676 (2011), cert. denied, 132 S.
Ct. 2377 (2012) ("The overbreadth doctrine allows an individual
whose speech may be constitutionally regulated to argue that a
law is unconstitutional because it infringes on the speech of
others").
The premise underlying the defendant's overbreadth claim is
that § 28 prior to amendment did not require as an element of
the offense that the defendant knew that the recipient of the
harmful matter was a minor. If that premise is correct, the
statute would be constitutionally suspect because it would chill
the non-obscene, sex-related speech of those who cannot
reasonably ensure that the matter they disseminate will be seen
only by adults. See Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521
U.S. 844, 875 (1997) (governmental interest "in protecting
children from harmful materials . . . does not justify an
unnecessarily broad suppression of speech addressed to adults"
[citations omitted]). See also Smith v. California, 361 U.S.
147, 153-154 (1959) (punishing bookseller for possession of
obscene books without knowledge of obscene content would cause
self-censorship and severely limit public access to
constitutionally protected matter, because booksellers are
limited in amount of reading material with which they can
10
familiarize themselves and they would grow timid in face of
"absolute criminal liability").
In determining whether to construe the statute prior to
amendment to require such knowledge, we apply two principles of
statutory construction. First, "a statute is to be construed
where fairly possible so as to avoid constitutional questions."
United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc., 513 U.S. 64, 69 (1994).
See Commonwealth v. Disler, 451 Mass. 216, 228 (2008) (it is our
duty to interpret statutes in manner that avoids constitutional
difficulties "if reasonable principles of interpretation permit
it" [citation omitted]). See also O'Brien v. Borowski, 461
Mass. 415, 422 (2012) ("we have not hesitated to construe
statutory language narrowly to avoid constitutional
overbreadth"); Demetropolos v. Commonwealth, 342 Mass. 658, 660
(1961) ("where a statute may be construed as either
constitutional or unconstitutional, a construction will be
adopted which avoids an unconstitutional interpretation").
Second, where First Amendment rights are at issue, we
presume "that some form of scienter is to be implied in a
criminal statute even if not expressed." X-Citement Video,
Inc., 513 U.S. at 69 (construing statute to require knowledge
that performer in visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct
was minor). See Commonwealth v. Buckley, 354 Mass. 508, 510
11
(1968) ("Statutes, purporting to create criminal offences which
may impinge upon the public's access to constitutionally
protected matter . . . , have been construed to require
knowledge by the accused of the facts giving rise to
criminality" [quotation and citation omitted]); Commonwealth v.
Corey, 351 Mass. 331, 332-333 (1966).
In Corey, 351 Mass. at 334, we applied both of these
principles when interpreting an earlier version of § 28 to
require scienter.7 The defendant was an employee in a Boston
book store who sold a book entitled "Candy" to a seventeen year
old girl who asked for the book by name. Id. at 332. The
defendant argued that he could not be convicted under § 28
without evidence that he knew of the allegedly obscene content
of the book; the Commonwealth conceded that it had offered no
such evidence. Id. According to the Commonwealth, the absence
of any language in the statute requiring scienter suggested that
the Legislature intended to enact a strict liability criminal
statute, much like it did when it enacted a strict liability
7
The relevant portions of the earlier version of § 28 read,
"Whoever sells . . . to a person under the age of eighteen years
a book . . . which is obscene, indecent or impure, or manifestly
tends to corrupt the morals of youth . . . shall be punished
. . . ." Commonwealth v. Corey, 351 Mass. 331, 331 (1966),
quoting G. L. c. 272, § 28, as amended through St. 1959, c. 492,
§ 1.
12
criminal statute prohibiting the sale of liquor to minors. Id.
at 333.
We acknowledged that the Legislature had the authority in
enacting criminal statutes to define criminal offenses that had
no element of scienter, but also recognized that "a different
situation is presented when the legislation is in an area where
First Amendment rights are involved." Id. Where First
Amendment rights are involved, "[t]he [United States]
Constitution requires proof of scienter to avoid the hazard of
self-censorship of constitutionally protected material." Id. at
332-333, quoting Mishkin v. New York, 383 U.S. 502, 511 (1966).
Thus, if § 28 had no scienter requirement, "booksellers, unable
to familiarize themselves with all the material on their
shelves, would tend to restrict sales to minors to the
relatively few books of which they had some knowledge of the
contents or character. The result would be an impediment to the
sale to minors not only of unprotected matter but also of that
which is constitutionally protected." Corey, supra at 334. We
held that § 28 "must be read as requiring scienter." Id.
For similar reasons, we now construe § 28 prior to
amendment to require scienter that the recipient was a minor.
If scienter as to the recipient's age were not required, online
booksellers and other Web site administrators who could not
13
reasonably identify the age of every person who visits their Web
sites would be discouraged from disseminating material that is
appropriate for adults but harmful to minors. See State v.
Weidner, 235 Wis. 2d 306, 322 (Wis. 2000) ("By requiring an
[I]nternet user . . . to prove lack of knowledge regarding the
age of the person exposed to material deemed harmful to a child,
the [Wisconsin statute on dissemination of matter harmful to
minors] effectively chills protected [I]nternet communication to
adults"). Thus, interpreting the statute to require knowledge
that the recipient is a minor is necessary to avoid impinging on
public access to constitutionally protected matter. See Corey,
351 Mass. at 334.
We interpret § 28 to include an implied element of
scienter, not only to preserve the constitutionality of the
statute, but also to reflect what we understand to be the
legislative intent. First, we note that the statute explicitly
requires that the defendant have knowledge that the matter
disseminated is harmful to minors. See G. L. c. 272, § 28, as
appearing in St. 1982, c. 603, § 2 ("Whoever disseminates to a
minor any matter harmful to minors . . . knowing it to be
harmful to minors"). Second, we previously construed § 28 to
require that the act of dissemination be "purposeful or
intentional" rather than inadvertent, even though the statute
14
itself did not explicitly state the level of intent necessary to
prove dissemination. Commonwealth v. Belcher, 446 Mass. 693,
696-697 (2006). Finally, because § 28 also made it a crime to
possess any matter harmful to minors "with the intent to
disseminate the same to minors," the Legislature likely intended
that same intent be required to criminalize the dissemination of
the same matter. See X-Citement Video, Inc., 513 U.S. at 72("the presumption in favor of a scienter requirement should
apply to each of the statutory elements that criminalize
otherwise innocent conduct").
Where we adopt a limiting construction of a statute to
avoid substantial overbreadth, as we have done here by requiring
scienter that the recipient is a minor, "the statute, as
construed, 'may be applied to conduct occurring prior to the
construction, provided such application affords fair warning to
the defendants.'" Oakes, 491 U.S. at 584 (opinion of O'Connor,
J.), quoting Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S. 479, 491 n.7
(1965). See Osborne v. Ohio, 495 U.S. 103, 119 (1990) ("Courts
routinely construe statutes so as to avoid the statutes'
potentially overbroad reach, apply the statute in that case, and
leave the statute in place"). Here, where there can be no issue
of fair warning, we conclude that § 28 included an implied
scienter requirement before the 2011 amendment made that
15
requirement explicit and was therefore not unconstitutionally
overbroad.8
8
On appeal, the Commonwealth also argues that the
defendant's overbreadth challenge was rendered moot by the 2011
amendment, even though the amendment was not effective during
the time period covered by the indictment. The Commonwealth's
argument rests on the plurality opinion of Justice O'Connor in
Massachusetts v. Oakes, 491 U.S. 576, 582 (1989), joined by
three other Justices, which concluded that "overbreadth analysis
is inappropriate if the statute being challenged has been
amended or repealed." Justice O'Connor reasoned:
"Overbreadth is a judicially created doctrine designed to
prevent the chilling of protected expression. An overbroad
statute is not void ab initio, but rather voidable, subject
to invalidation notwithstanding the defendant's unprotected
conduct out of solicitude to the First Amendment rights of
parties not before the court. Because the special concern
that animates the overbreadth doctrine is no longer present
after the amendment or repeal of the challenged statute, we
need not extend the benefits of the doctrine to a defendant
whose conduct is not protected."
Id. at 584. Justice Scalia wrote a separate opinion, Part I of
which was joined by four other Justices, which stated that a
subsequent legislative amendment of a statute does not
"eliminate the basis for the overbreadth challenge." Id. at
585-586. Justice Scalia reasoned:
"The overbreadth doctrine serves to protect
constitutionally legitimate speech not merely ex post, that
is, after the offending statute is enacted, but also ex
ante, that is, when the legislature is contemplating what
sort of statute to enact. If the promulgation of overbroad
laws affecting speech was cost free, as Justice O'Connor's
new doctrine would make it -- that is, if no conviction of
constitutionally proscribable conduct would be lost, so
long as the offending statute was narrowed before the final
appeal -- then legislatures would have significantly
reduced incentive to stay within constitutional bounds in
the first place" (emphasis in original).
16
Having construed § 28 prior to amendment to require
knowledge that the recipient of the harmful matter was a minor,
Id. at 586. It was only because Justice Scalia concluded that
the statute prior to amendment was not impermissibly overbroad
that Justice O'Connor's opinion had the five votes necessary to
announce the judgment of the court to vacate the judgment below
and remand for further proceedings. Id. at 585, 588, 590.
Several circuit courts of the United States Court of
Appeals have agreed that a subsequent amendment of a statute
renders moot an overbreadth defense. See, e.g., National
Advertising Co. v. Miami, 402 F.3d 1329, 1332 (11th Cir. 2005),
cert. denied, 546 U.S. 1170 (2006); Stephenson v. Davenport
Community Sch. Dist., 110 F.3d 1303, 1311-1312 (8th Cir. 1997);
Kentucky Right to Life, Inc. v. Terry, 108 F.3d 637, 644 (6th
Cir.), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 860 (1997). Yet, as the defendant
notes, part I of Justice Scalia's opinion was the "only
proposition to which five Members of the Court [had]
subscribed." Oakes, supra at 591 n.1 (Brennan, J., dissenting).
The Supreme Court has explained that where "no single rationale
explaining the result enjoys the assent of five Justices, 'the
holding of the Court may be viewed as that position taken by
those Members who concurred in the judgments on the narrowest
grounds . . . .'" Marks v. United States, 430 U.S. 188, 193
(1977), quoting Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 169 n.15 (1976).
However, the Court has also acknowledged that this test "is more
easily stated than applied." Nichols v. United States, 511 U.S.
738, 745 (1994). See United States v. Robison, 521 F.3d 1319,
1323-1324 (11th Cir. 2008) ("narrowest grounds" approach does
not make sense where two opinions "simply set forth different
criteria" and one opinion does not constitute subset of broader
opinion). "Since Marks, several members of the Court have
indicated that whenever a decision is fragmented such that no
single opinion has the support of five Justices, lower courts
should examine the plurality, concurring and dissenting opinions
to extract the principles that a majority has embraced"
(emphasis added). United States v. Johnson, 467 F.3d 56, 65
(1st Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 552 U.S. 948 (2007). Because we
construe the statute prior to amendment to be constitutional, we
need not determine the appropriate method of interpreting
fragmented Supreme Court decisions in order to decide whether,
under Oakes, the 2011 amendment of § 28 rendered the defendant's
overbreadth challenge moot.
17
we must address whether the defendant's conviction under § 28
can stand where the judge's final instructions to the jury did
not inform them of this element. See Osborne, 495 U.S. at 118,
citing Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, 382 U.S. 87, 91-92 (1965)
("where a State Supreme Court narrows an unconstitutionally
overbroad statute, the State must ensure that defendants are
convicted under the statute as it is subsequently construed and
not as it was originally written"). Where, as here, the
defendant did not object to the judge's jury instructions, we
determine whether the absence of such an instruction created a
substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice. See Belcher, 446
Mass. at 696. We conclude that there was no such risk in this
case, where the defendant was the uncle of the victim, J.B., and
knew him very well, and where J.B. was well below eighteen years
of age when the defendant showed him the pornographic material.
2. Closing argument. The defendant also contends that the
prosecutor's closing argument improperly suggested that the
defendant would have touched C.J. in the same manner that he
touched J.B. if C.J. had not moved away. The prosecutor stated:
"Was [the defendant] able to progress any further than
touching [C.J.]'s pubic area? No. Why not? Because
[C.J.] left, that's why. Not because he was done learning
about sex from his uncle, because he physically moved to
another state. You heard eighth grade he left. He was in
Tewksbury for a short amount of time and then New
Hampshire. At that point they saw each other infrequently,
18
not every day. The access collapsed and his opportunity at
that point to take it further vanished."
The prosecutor later reemphasized this theory, stating, "Now the
point that [the defendant] got to with [J.B.] shows you exactly
what his intent was when he started with [C.J.]. Due to
circumstances beyond his control, that is a couple of hundred
miles maybe or a state border, he was unable to reach that point
with [C.J.]."
The defendant contends that the prosecutor's argument
regarding the sexual crimes that the defendant would have
inflicted on C.J. had C.J. not moved was improper because it was
speculative and played on the jury's fear that, if they found
the defendant not guilty, he would "take it further" and commit
more sexual crimes. See Commonwealth v. Ayoub, 77 Mass. App.
Ct. 563, 569 (2010) (statements that "invited speculation about
offenses uncommitted and . . . uncharged" are imprudent).
Because the defendant failed to object to the closing argument,
we review whether the prosecutor's argument created a
substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice. See Commonwealth
v. Renderos, 440 Mass. 422, 425 (2003).
The prosecutor's remarks were improper in that they
suggested that had C.J. not moved away, the defendant might have
committed additional sexual offenses against him, which invited
the risk that the jury would divert their focus from the
19
evaluation of the evidence regarding the defendant's alleged
crimes, and consider instead what the defendant might have done
under different circumstances. A prosecutor may make reasonable
inferences as to what might have actually happened during the
commission of the alleged crimes, but may not argue what might
have happened had the victim not moved away.
The challenged remarks, however, followed the defendant's
closing argument, and must be evaluated in that context. See
Renderos, 440 Mass. at 425 (prosecutor's remarks evaluated in
context of entire closing argument, judge's instructions of law,
and evidence at trial); Commonwealth v. Grandison, 433 Mass.
135, 143 (2001) (prosecutor may fairly respond to defendant's
closing argument). In his closing argument, the defendant's
trial counsel contended that the defendant was "trying to
introduce these young men to this whole idea of sexual
development, maturity, puberty and everything that goes along
with sex education," albeit in a clumsy manner, and therefore
"[n]one of these events were [sic] indecent." The prosecutor
countered that the defendant's touching of the victims was not
for the purpose of their sex education, but for his own sexual
gratification and that the defendant took advantage of the trust
he had built with the victims. In this context, a reasonable
jury were more likely to have understood the prosecutor's
20
statements that suggested what the defendant might have done,
had C.J. not moved away, as commentary on the intent of the
defendant's earlier touching of C.J., rather than on the
defendant's future sexual dangerousness. The prosecutor's
statement, "[T]he point that [the defendant] got to with [J.B.]
shows you exactly what his intent was when he started with
[C.J.]," directed the jury to consider the defendant's conduct
with J.B. in evaluating the defendant's intent in touching C.J.
Having considered the prosecutor's improper statements in the
context of the closing arguments and recognizing the strength of
the evidence against the defendant, we conclude that there was
no substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice.
Conclusion. Because G. L. c. 272, § 28, was constitutional
at the time of the defendant's charged conduct, and the
prosecutor's closing argument did not create a substantial risk
of a miscarriage of justice, we affirm the defendant's
convictions.
So ordered.