WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita man serving nearly 27 years in prison for getting a 14-year-old girl to text him a nude photo of herself has dropped his appeal.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request Tuesday from Shane McClelland, 26, to dismiss his appeal.
A federal judge in Wichita sentenced McClelland last year as a repeat sex offender, saying the long prison term was necessary to deter him from further crimes and to protect the public.
McClelland’s lawyer argued the sentence for a single nude photo amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
A jury found McClelland guilty of one count of obtaining a picture of the exposed genitals of a 14-year-old girl from upstate New York via Yahoo! messaging. He was acquitted of a similar count involving another teen.
