A jury trial of two cousins who allegedly coerced a 16-year-old Billings girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct began Tuesday in federal court in Helena.

Federal prosecutors say Fritz Anderson, 34, of Billings and his cousin, Raeshon Dozier, 34, of California enticed the female minor to engage in sexual acts for the purpose of producing a video, knowing that such visual depiction would be disseminated. Prosecutors say the two men recorded the incident on a cell phone.

Furthermore, Anderson appeared in federal court on an indictment charging him with distribution of ecstasy and marijuana to a person under the age of 21 and possession of child pornography.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted, Anderson and Dozier face a mandatory minimum of 15 to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.

Anderson and Dozier appeared before U.S. District Court Senior Judge Charles Lovell and, after jury selection Tuesday morning, the prosecution called 10 witnesses to the stand, including the alleged victim, police officers and detectives.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Seykora said he’ll show through evidence and witness testimony beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants are guilty of the crimes, while the defense attorneys claim the acts captured on the video do not meet the lawful definition of sexual exploitation of a child.

Teal Rounds, 24, of Billings is a friend of the victim and testified against the defendants. Rounds, a former girlfriend of Anderson, said the four of them went to the Ramada Inn in Billings for an evening of partying where they all smoked marijuana and took ecstasy. Rounds and the minor testified they were clearly intoxicated and neither remembered much of that evening on Jan. 31, 2007. The victim testified she didn’t at all remember being recorded by a cell phone.

Anderson faces additional imprisonment and fines for the possession of child pornography and drug charges as related to this case. He also faces 30 counts of drug-related charges. A federal court date is set for April 7 in Billings.

The trial resumes Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., continuing with testimony from forensic examiner Brandon Fritz. That testimony could include five cell phone videos of the incidents that allegedly took place that night.

Reporter Alana Listoe: 447-4081 or alana.listoe@helenir.com