State of Indiana v. Christopher S. Busch

Franklin, Indiana criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Level 4 felony child solicitation.



In April 2023, 55-year-old Busch responded to an ad posted on a prostitution website called List Crawlers. The ad depicted a photo of the profile of a female purporting to be eighteen years old.[1]The person pictured was a "decoy" being used by law enforcement to conduct a multi-day sting operation from an apartment complex near State Road 135 and County Line Road in Johnson County. Transcript Vol. 1 at 188. The decoy was an adult law enforcement officer who "looked very young[.]" Id. Busch texted the phone number listed in the ad and began communicating with Detective Emily Watson (Chatter), one of the undercover law enforcement officers assigned to serve as "chatters" to message individuals who responded to ads during the sting operation.



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Legal issue Did the State present sufficient evidence to support a conviction for child solicitation and rebut the entrapment defense?

Headnote



CRIMINAL LAW. CHILD SOLICITATION. The case concerns an appeal challenging a conviction for Level 4 felony child solicitation, where the defendant argued insufficient evidence regarding his belief about the age of the individual solicited and the effectiveness of his entrapment defense.



CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. ENTRAPMENT DEFENSE. The court evaluated whether the defendant was induced by law enforcement to commit the offense of child solicitation and concluded that the State sufficiently rebutted the entrapment defense by demonstrating no persuasive inducement occurred.



SENTENCING LAW. SENTENCE APPROPRIATENESS. The appeal contested the appropriateness of a four-year sentence for child solicitation given the nature of the offense and the defendant's character, with the court affirming the sentence as it fell below the advisory due to mitigating factors.

Key Phrases Child solicitation conviction. Entrapment defense. Undercover sting operation. Appropriateness of sentence. Law enforcement persuasion.



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The trial court sentenced him to four years with two years executed in the Department of Correction (DOC) and two years suspended to probation.



Affirmed