Commonwealth v. Gregory Kereakoglow, March 10, 2010
456 Mass. 225
Obscenity, Dissemination of matter harmful to minor, Community standard
The defendant was convicted by an Essex County jury of possession with intent to disseminate matter harmful to minors. The harmful matter consisted of three digital images of the fifty-year-old Hampshire County defendant posing naked, which he sent by electronic mail to a police officer posing online as a fifteen-year-old girl living in Essex County. The jury was required to decide whether the images were patently contrary to prevailing standards of adults in the county where the offense was committed as to be suitable material for minors. There was no testimony at trial as to the prevailing standards of adults in Hampshire County. The SJC reversed the conviction because there was no mention of either Hampshire or Essex County in the judge’s instruction on how the jury was to determine the county where the offense was committed. Accordingly, the jury had no alternative but to improperly decide whether the images were patently contrary to the prevailing standards of adults in Essex County as opposed to Hampshire County where the offense was committed.
