State of Arizona ex rel. Sheila Sullivan Polk, Yavapai County Attorney, Petitioner v. the Honorable Jennifer B…

Summary

The court held that the enhanced and consecutive sentencing provisions for child prostitution involving a fifteen-, sixteen-, or seventeen-year-old apply when an undercover peace officer poses as a minor of that age. It reached that conclusion because the statute's text, structure, legislative history, and consequences indicate that the legislature intended the provisions to cover police-sting offenses, and excluding them would leave the offenses without a specified punishment. The court vacated the intermediate appellate decision and reversed the trial court's contrary order.