Opinion
No. 5-525 / 04-1201
Filed August 17, 2005
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Nancy A. Baumgartner, Judge.
Verkennes appeals his conviction of disseminating obscene material to a minor. AFFIRMED.
Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and Dennis D. Hendrickson, Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Sheryl A. Soich, Assistant Attorney General, Harold Denton, County Attorney, and William Croghan, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Huitink and Vaitheswaran, JJ.
The district court found Troy Verkennes guilty of dissemination and exhibition of obscene material to minors. Iowa Code § 728.2 (2001). On appeal, Verkennes challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the court's finding of guilt.
A rational fact-finder could have found that Verkennes, the neighbor of a thirteen-year-old boy, showed the boy Polaroid photographs of his wife, including ones involving oral sex. See State v. Quinn, 691 N.W.2d 403, 407 (Iowa 2005) (setting forth standard of review). This evidence is sufficient to support the conviction. See Iowa Code § 728.1(5) (including in the definition of "obscene material," "any material depicting or describing the genitals, sex acts. . . ."). As the district court stated to Verkennes, "[y]ou showed him those photographs and clearly that meets the definition of obscene materials and William was a minor at the time."