The Tennessee Supreme Court has issued an opinion in State of Tennessee v. Anthony Cornelius Baylis, affirming Baylis’s conviction for commercial sex trafficking.

In 2021, as part of a sting operation in Monroe County, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents placed an advertisement for sex on a known escort website. Responding to the advertisement, Baylis solicited sex from an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a sixteen-year-old girl, encouraged her to come to Knoxville so that she could charge higher rates, and offered to be her sponsor. He arranged to meet the officer at a motel, where he paid her $120 and began to remove his pants. At that moment, law enforcement officers who were monitoring the room from a nearby location entered the room and arrested Baylis. 

A Monroe County jury convicted Baylis of trafficking for a commercial sex act under Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-309. Baylis argued that the statutory definition of “commercial sex act” that section 39-13-309 incorporates requires the State to prove either (1) that the victim was under 18 years of age or (2) that the defendant used coercion or deception. Baylis further argued that the State had not carried its burden because the law enforcement officer involved in the sting operation was not actually a minor and there was no proof of coercion or deception. Both the trial court and the Court of Criminal Appeals rejected this argument.

The Tennessee Supreme Court also rejected this argument and affirmed Baylis’s conviction. The Court explained that Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-309(a)(3) specifically prohibits attempting to benefit from another person’s provision of a commercial sex act “when the intended victim of the offense is . . . a law enforcement officer eighteen (18) years of age or older posing as a minor.” The Court reasoned that, even if the statutory definition of “commercial sex act” requires proof that the victim is a minor or that the defendant employed coercion or deception, the context of section 39-13-309(a)(3) requires a different understanding of commercial sex act for purposes of that subsection. The Court also held that the State presented sufficient evidence at trial for a jury to convict Baylis of commercial sex trafficking. 

To read the Court’s unanimous opinion, authored by Justice Sarah K. Campbell, please visit the opinions section of TNCourts.gov.