UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, │ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ > No. 23-3870 │ v. │ │ BERNHARD JAKITS, │ Defendant-Appellant. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus. No. 2:22-cr-00194-1—Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., District Judge.

Argued: October 31, 2024

Decided and Filed: February 20, 2025

Before: COLE, MATHIS, and BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL ARGUED: Tillman J. Finley, MARINO FINLEY LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Kevin Koller, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Tillman J. Finley, Daniel Marino, MARINO FINLEY LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Kevin Koller, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellee. _________________

OPINION _________________

COLE, Circuit Judge. A jury convicted Bernhard Jakits of eight counts of child- exploitation-related crimes. On appeal, Jakits argues that there is insufficient evidence to support the convictions on all eight counts, that the district court incorrectly instructed the jury No. 23-3870 United States v. Jakits Page 2

on elements of the charged offenses, and that the district court excluded evidence in violation of his constitutional rights. We affirm his convictions on all eight counts.

I.

In late 2018, Bernhard Jakits began corresponding online with “Ashley” through a prostitution website. At the time, Jakits lived in Maryland, and Ashley lived in Martins Ferry, Ohio. Pregnant and addicted to drugs, Ashley performed sex acts for Jakits on live videocalls for money.

Ashley has two teenage daughters: fifteen-year-old “Jae” and thirteen-year-old “Nik.”1 In late December 2018, Ashley reported to a local jail and began a period of incarceration. She left her phone at the apartment where Jae, Nik, and their grandmother were living. Jae knew that Ashley engaged in sex work to make money. She also knew that Jakits was one of the men with whom her mother corresponded, though she knew him only under the moniker in her mother’s phone: “Mr. Wow.”

In early January 2019, while her mother was in jail, Jae heard her mother’s phone ring. Jae picked up the phone and found a message from “Mr. Wow.” Jae responded, letting him know that she was Ashley’s daughter and that her mother was in jail. Jakits and Jae began texting.

According to Jae, Jakits eventually asked whether Jae “wanted to make some extra cash” and offered her $500 for nude pictures. (Sealed Trial Tr., R. 195, PageID 2616–17.) At first, Jae sent him photos she had previously taken of herself wearing underwear, but Jakits was not satisfied. So, Jae took and sent him nude photographs. Jakits requested various poses: a photo of Jae with her school transcript, to prove her age and her identity, and a photo of her “ben[t] over something.” (Id. at PageID 2642-44, 2653.) Jae sent