‘Mom Blog’ Child Porn Conviction Stands Despite Intent Defense

A federal jury properly convicted a man of attempting to produce child pornography using sexually explicit images of children he requested from “mom bloggers,” even though he allegedly didn’t believe they’d comply with his request.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Friday rejected Colum Moran’s argument that the federal government didn’t prove that he actually intended to produce child pornography because he never believed the mom bloggers would post the images.

Moreover, the interstate commerce element of the attempt law doesn’t require a defendant to know that his scheme will succeed. It only requires knowledge that the ...