Page:Bedtelyon v. State (2022).pdf/6

 Fordyce’s Br. at 8 (quoting Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (Merriam-Webster 1986))). A more recent Merriam-Webster entry defines “depict” as “to represent by or as if by a picture.” Depict, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/depict (last visited Feb. 16, 2022). It defines “describe” as “to tell someone the appearance, sound, smell, events, etc., of (something or someone): to say what something or someone is like” and “to represent or give an account of in words.” Describe, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/describe (last visited Feb. 16, 2022).

Bedtelyon argues that the State failed to prove that the videos he watched depicted or described sexual conduct as defined by statute. Bedtelyon is correct. The videos were not admitted into evidence, and we cannot determine that the court actually viewed them. Instead, the court relied on the testimony of Bedtelyon’s therapist and probation officer who watched the videos and obliquely described the content. Their testimony reveals that the cartoons feature “provocatively dressed,” though never naked, women. Tr. Vol. II, pp. 14, 25. The animated characters all experience incestuous attraction. Id. at 8, 25–28. Overall, the evidence suggests that these videos might have erotic themes, are erotic in tone, and describe erotic feelings. But the State did not present evidence that sexual conduct as defined by statute was depicted or described, rather than merely implied.