Justia Internet Law Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
by
Defendant, convicted on 11 child-pornography related offenses )18 U.S.C. 2251(a) and (d)(1)(A); 18 U.S.C. 2252A(a)(1), (a)(5)(B), and (b)(1) and 18 U.S.C. 2257(f)(4)), was sentenced to 16 years in prison followed by eight years of supervised release. The Sixth Circuit affirmed. The warrant, which authorized search and seizure of the entire computer server, was not overbroad. In general,if a computer search is limited to a search for evidence explicitly authorized in the warrant, it is reasonable for the executing officers to open the various types of files located in a computer's hard drive in order to determine whether they contain such evidence.The government provided an indexed list of images and files to the defense, six weeks before trial, and complied with Rule 16. Punishing, through multiple offenses, a defendant who funnels child pornography through different websites is consistent with Congress's intent to halt the dissemination of such images and to stop the sexual abuse of children. While noting "troubling" aspects to the rationale, the court affirmed the below-Guidelines sentence.View "United States v. Richards" on Justia Law