In U.S. v. Lebowitz the defendant was charged with producing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. §2251(a) and one count of attempting to entice a child to engage in unlawful sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. §2422. Lebowitz began communicating with a15 year old boy male, K.S. on…
In U.S. v. John Doe the 11th Circuit came down on the side of a person’s Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. Doe was held in civil contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena duces tecum requiring him to appear before a grand jury and produce the unencrypted…
In U.S. v. Owens the defendant pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and his sentence was enhanced because the district court determined his prior convictions under Alabama law for second degree rape and second degree sodomy qualified as a violent crime under the Armed Career…
The defendants in U.S. v. McGarity were convicted following trial of engaging in child exploitation enterprise (CEE) 18 U.S.C. 2252A(g), receiving child pornography, 2252A(a)(2), and conspiracy to transport, receive, and possess child pornography, 2251(d)(1). The arrests grew out of a tip to Australian police of a child pornography ring operating…
In U.S. v. Vadnais, the 11th Circuit found that a file sharing program does not support a five level sentencing guidelines enhancement and reversed the sentencing. Another panel reached the same conclusion in U.S. v. Spriggs three days earlier involving the software Shareaza 2.0. Vadnais’ 240 months sentence for receiving…
In U.S v. Spriggs, Spriggs pled guilty to receipt of child pornography and sentenced to a five level enhancement for distribution of the illegal images for the receiving or expecting to receive something of value under USSG §2G2.2(b)(3)(B). Spriggs kept his child pornography collection in a peer to peer file…
In U.S. v. W.B.H. the defendant was convicted of federal drug conspiracy. His sentence included a condition of his supervised release that required him to register as a sex offender under Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) because he had a 20 year old Alabama conviction for first degree…
The court of appeals held that the 5-level enhancement for distributing child pornography to a minor requires proof it was intended for an actual child or a fictitious child created by law enforcement. In U.S. v. Fulford, the Defendant was convicted of possessing and distributing child pornography and given a…
This was case is an example of a cyber crime investigation in Miami that focused on the using the internet to solicit minors for illegal illicit sexual activities. In U.S. v. Lanzon the defendant was indicted for persuading a minor to “engage in prostitution or any sexual activity for which…
In U.S v. Dean the defendant challenged the constitutionality of a federal prosecution under the statute 18 U.S.C. §1466A(a)(2). The defendant claimed the statute prohibiting production of child pornography is overbroad because it criminalizes materials that are neither child pornography nor obscene and therefore criminalizes materials protected by the First…