State of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Respondent v. James Michael Olsson, Defendant-Petitioner; State of New Mexico…

Summary

The Court held that the possession provision of the Sexual Exploitation of Children Act does not clearly define whether each image, medium, download, victim, or course of conduct constitutes a separate unit of prosecution. It further held that the distinctness factors used in other criminal cases do not apply to possession offenses and that the rule of lenity therefore requires treating each defendant's conduct as one possession offense. The Court reversed the Court of Appeals decisions and remanded for proceedings consistent with that rule. Justice Chávez, dissenting, would have permitted separate counts based on different child victims or distinct prohibited sexual acts.