At the Law Offices of Joseph Haynes Davis, P.A. we defend the accused against the following charges: Computer Child Pornography Possession Charges and other sex-sting charges and sex crimes charges in Florida.
Child pornography in any quantity, whether in paper form or in digital form on a computer, is a serious crime. The penalties for a conviction of possession of child pornography in any quantity in both state courts and federal courts increase as the quantity of these images increases. Many people don’t realize that with one push of a button, it is possible to instantly possess thousands of illegal pornographic images of children and therefore be charged with possession of child pornography. Even without ever looking at those images, felony charges in state and federal court of possession of child pornography could result from this digital transaction. The Law Offices of Joseph Haynes Davis, P.A. has the experience of defending such cases.
If you are facing criminal charges involving child pornography, call the Law Offices of Joseph Haynes Davis, P.A. to speak with an experienced Florida computer child pornography defense attorney. The Law Offices of Joseph Haynes Davis, P.A. has more than 11 years of experience defending clients charged with crimes in Orlando, and throughout central Florida. Let the Law Offices of Joseph Haynes Davis, P.A. help you and advise you as to how try to minimize the damage that child pornography charges could have on your life.
Whether you know it or not, people often don’t realize the extreme penalties that could result from simply possessing a small amount of images on a personal computer. Whether you know it or not, many people get caught making simple mistakes that lead to serious consequences. Please consider the following as examples:
The first scenario is unknowing possession: This happens when and individual downloads a set of pictures packaged in a bundle, and in so doing, unwittingly downloads illegal child pornography. However, this can be charged as a crime. The act of possessing the pictures on your hard drive or cache can bring possession charges, regardless of whether or not you knew they were there.
The second scenario is quantity possession: In this instance, the penalties for child pornography possession are based upon quantity: that is the higher the quantities of illegal child pornography images possessed lead to more severe legal criminal charges. Computers automatically store all of the images that are brought up when surfing the web. Even if you accidentally pass through a site with illegal pornographic images of children, the computer will store those images until you manually remove them. As a result, if your computer is seized before you have a chance to remove those images from your hard drive, you could be charged with and convicted of child pornography crimes.
One simple click of your mouse — without ever having touched a child — could lead to dramatic legal sentences for child pornography. Conviction of computer child pornography charges can also result in sentences that are disproportionately severe.
Computer child pornography is readily available on the internet. However, its possession in the form of photographs or pictures on a computer is a serious crime. Computer child pornography comes to the attention of law enforcement in many ways. A person may take a computer to be repaired and when the computer is picked up the police are waiting because the computer repair technician reported the computer child pornography. Police in Orlando are also posing as minors in chat rooms and on various web sites to develop suspects. Law enforcement also monitors shared sites such as Lime Wire and Kazaa for child pornography that is being distributed or downloaded. A warrant is then obtained and a person’s hard drive is seized and searched for child pornography. If child pornography is found, it could result in the owner of the computer, or any user of the computer, being charged with distribution or receipt of the child pornography.
The federal government considers the receipt and distribution of child pornography to be so serious that it is punished by a term of prison up to 20 years.
The receipt or distribution of child pornography carries with it a minimum of 5 years’ incarceration. Possession of child pornography with the intent to sell is likewise subject to a minimum of 5 years imprisonment with a maximum of 20 years.
The federal law makes it illegal to possess or to knowingly access with intent to view a book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape, computer disk, or any material that contains an image of child pornography that has been mailed or shipped or transported by any means including the internet. This carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
When law enforcement finds child pornography on a computer, they normally assume that the computer owner intentionally downloaded the child pornography and therefore violated the law. In handling these cases we look carefully at this issue to find potential defenses which can include someone else’s use of the computer or accidental downloading of the images.
It is possible that a person would download a group of pictures and not realize that within the large group of pictures is child pornography. This would be a defense; however, a full review of the hard drive by an expert is required.
The State of Florida likewise treats child pornography as a serious crime. The mere possession of child pornography, including hard copy pictures or computer images, as well as the transmission of child pornography is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison for each picture or image. Each picture and each computer image constitutes a separate offense. Therefore if a person only has 10 child pornography pictures on a hard drive, the maximum punishment of 50 years in prison is possible and Florida Criminal Punishment Code would call for a minimum sentence of 36 months incarceration.
It is common in computer child pornography to have numerous pictures. On the Florida Criminal Punishment Code Score sheet, a person with 100 photographs could face 100 separate offenses each with a maximum of 5 years for a total maximum of 500 years. The sentencing score sheets would call for a sentence of incarceration of 33 years. Confronting state or federal charges of possession or distribution of child pornography is a serious matter.
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