No. _________ ================================================================ In The Supreme Court of the United States --------------------------------- --------------------------------- KRISTA ANN MUCCIO, Petitioner, v. STATE OF MINNESOTA, Respondent. --------------------------------- --------------------------------- On Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari To The Supreme Court Of Minnesota --------------------------------- --------------------------------- PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI --------------------------------- --------------------------------- ERIN GLENN BUSBY MARK WILLIAM BENNETT LISA R. ESKOW Counsel of Record MICHAEL F. S TURLEY BENNETT & BENNETT 727 East Dean Keeton Street 917 Franklin Street, Austin, Texas 78705 Fourth Floor Houston, Texas 77002 JOHN G. WESTRICK (713) 224-1747 WESTRICK & (
[email protected]) MCDOWALL-NIX, P.L.L.P. 325 Cedar Street, Suite 210 St. Paul, Minnesota 55101 August 4, 2017 ================================================================ COCKLE LEGAL BRIEFS (800) 225-6964 WWW.COCKLELEGALBRIEFS.COM i QUESTION PRESENTED Several states have enacted statutes that crimi- nalize sharing sexually related (but not necessarily ob- scene) speech when the exchange occurs electronically, is between an adult and a minor, and is communicated with the intent to arouse sexual desire. The Ninth Cir- cuit and Texas’s highest criminal court have held that these types of statutes prohibit a substantial amount of protected speech and are unconstitutionally over- broad. In contrast, the highest courts of Georgia and Minnesota have held that such statutes are permissi- ble content-based restrictions on speech. The question presented is: Do statutes of this kind, which criminalize any sexually related speech sent to a minor electronically with the intent to arouse, satisfy First Amendment scrutiny? ii PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDINGS Petitioner Krista Ann Muccio was the defendant in the Minnesota trial court, the respondent in the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and the respondent in the Minnesota Supreme Court.