In United States v. Pepe, --- F.4th ---, No. 22-5024 (9th Cir. 2023), the Court affirmed Michael Pepe’s jury conviction on two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b) by traveling in foreign commerce with the purpose of committing illicit sexual acts and two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2241(c) by crossing a state line to sexually abuse a child under 12 and then so doing.
On appeal, Pepe contended that no rational finder of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that he violated §§ 2423(b) and 2241(c). The Court disagreed, concluding that a jury could rationally find that the sexual abuse of children was one of Pepe’s primary motivations for returning from the United States to Cambodia.
The Court also rejected Pepe's argument about the jury instructions.
Here's the conclusion: "Sexually abusing children was one of Pepe’s primary activities during his time in Cambodia. A jury convicted him of traveling in foreign commerce and crossing state lines with a motivating purpose of sexually abusing those children. And also for, in fact, sexually abusing them. The most Pepe shows in this appeal is that a jury could have rationally found that he did not commit these crimes. But that is not the standard. A rational jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Pepe committed the charged crimes and the district court neither erred nor abused its discretion in instructing the jury."
