In an opinion handed down today, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a Diamond man's contention that his life sentence for the sexual coercion and enticement of an underage girl was due to "selective prosecution."
That claim by Terry Lee Miksell, 66, was rejected outright by the appellate panel.
We conclude that there was no error: Miksell did not allege any facts indicating that his prosecution was based on an impermissible motive.
The panel also noted that the evidence presented at Miksell's trial was sufficient enough to convict him.
A jury found Miksell guilty March 29, 2022, following a two-day trial.The case against Miksell was spelled out in the probable cause statement:
On September 17, 2019, Facebook initiated CyberTip 55638136 and on September 19, 2019 Facebook initiated CyberTip 55765307 with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Facebook initiated the CyberTips after locating sexually explicit messages and images between a user they believed to be a minor and another user believed to be a 63-year-old male. The messages and images were sent between August 13, 2019 and September 6, 2019.
In CyberTips 5638136 and 55765307 Facebook identified two user profiles. The first profile identified the user's screen name as "Terry Miksell". Miksell identified himself as a 63-year-old male in his profile. The second profile identified by Facebook was for a 16-year-old minor female.
This affiant reviewed the image he submitted and confirmed it depicted child pornography, that is Jane Doe, a minor less than 18 years of age, engaged in sexually explicit activity. The image had been sent from the minor's account to Miksell's accont during a Facebook Messenger chat.Facebook provided an except of Facebook Messenger chats between Miksell and Jane Doe. This affiant reviewed the messages and confirmed that they are sexually explicit in nature. During the chats, Miksell asked Jane Doe to send him sexually explicit images.
Through the course of the investigation, this affiant located a 63-year-old individual named Terry Lee Miksell residing in Diamond, Missouri.
On January 3, 2020, this affiant applied for and received a search warrant for Miksell's residence located in Diamond, Newton County, Missouri.
Facebook initiated the CyberTips after locating sexually explicit messages and images between a user they believed to be a minor and another user believed to be a 63-year-old male. The messages and images were sent between August 13, 2019 and September 6, 2019.
In CyberTips 5638136 and 55765307 Facebook identified two user profiles. The first profile identified the user's screen name as "Terry Miksell". Miksell identified himself as a 63-year-old male in his profile. The second profile identified by Facebook was for a 16-year-old minor female.
This affiant reviewed the image he submitted and confirmed it depicted child pornography, that is Jane Doe, a minor less than 18 years of age, engaged in sexually explicit activity. The image had been sent from the minor's account to Miksell's accont during a Facebook Messenger chat.Facebook provided an except of Facebook Messenger chats between Miksell and Jane Doe. This affiant reviewed the messages and confirmed that they are sexually explicit in nature. During the chats, Miksell asked Jane Doe to send him sexually explicit images.
Through the course of the investigation, this affiant located a 63-year-old individual named Terry Lee Miksell residing in Diamond, Missouri.
On January 3, 2020, this affiant applied for and received a search warrant for Miksell's residence located in Diamond, Newton County, Missouri.
On January 16, 2020, this affiant and other members of Homeland Security and Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force executed the search warrant for Miksell's residence.
During a post-Miranda interview with TFO Martin and TFO Charles Root, Miksell admitted to communicating with Jane Doe through Facebook and further stated he got carried away during some of his messages with Jane Doe. Miksell reported that Facebook had closed both of his accounts for violation of community standards.
Law enforcement seized numerous devices from Miksell's residence, including Miksell's Alcatel 5041C cell phone.
During law enforcement's preview of the cell phone, several pictures of Jane Doe were located in Miksell's Facebook Messenger chats. A short video depicting Jane Doe engaged in sexually explicit activity was also located.
Following the execution of the search warrant, this affiant located 16-year-old Jane Doe.
Jane Doe was interviewed by child forensic interview Kim Stewart. Jane Doe confirmed that Miksell had requested sexually explicit images and videos of her and Jane Doe stated she had sent those images and videos at his request.
No comments:
Post a Comment