Federal child pornography charges require a criminal defense attorney that is well versed in not only Federal Criminal Law and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, but also with specific experience, expertise, and an understanding of Federal Child Pornography laws and how unfair they are.

In federal cases involving the possession of child pornography, it is common for there to be very little or no issue regarding the Defendant’s possession of the pornographic materials.   When there is no dispute that the Client possessed child pornography and he finds himself in the federal courts, the issue is more often not one of “guilt vs. innocence”, but rather what happens to him.

Child Pornography Laws and our Digital World

Unfortunately, federal child pornography laws (both as they relate to the violations and to sentencing) are antiquated and out of step with the realities of our digital society.   For example, it is an enhancement to a defendant’s sentence in federal court if he used a computer to access child pornography; however, the simple fact is, every federal child pornography case in modern times involves a computer.

A second example would be video clips which are normally found in federal child porn cases.  Because the present laws have a great deal of “carryover” from several decades ago when it was far more common to simply have pictures or individual computer images, a tremendous enhancement exists for most federal child porn defendants who have videos of banned materials.

Specifically, the federal government counts each video clip, regardless of how small or short, it is, as 75 images.  This is important as under U.S.S.G. 2G2.2, a defendant who possesses more than 600 “images” receives the previously mentioned “tremendous enhancement”.  This means that even 7 small video clips put a defendant in the highest category extant for the volume of child porn.

Indeed, at nearly every turn, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines layer enhancement after enhancement on a defendant.   The sentence which often results from these enhancements frequently enters the realm of the absurd, and yet it is all too real.  This type of archaic sentencing scheme is one of many reasons that when charged in a federal child pornography case, a defendant needs not only an attorney who is licensed to practice in federal court, he needs a federal criminal defense attorney who has specific experience in federal child pornography charges.

How Experience and Expertise Makes a Difference

In a recent example of experience and expertise making a difference, our firm was retained to represent a highly educated member of the military whose IP address had been linked to a website/chatroom involving child porn in a foreign county.  Our client was subsequently investigated by federal authorities in the United States and his computers, storage drives, and cellular phones were seized by federal authorities.

The defendant came to see our firm before he was actually charged.  As a result of his swift action in retaining counsel during the investigative phase of his case, he was able to minimize damage and, after a Federal Detention Hearing, was released home pending the outcome of his case, which took in excess of one (1) year.

Throughout 2019 and 2020, our team went to work reviewing evidence, obtaining evaluations by international experts in child pornography, speaking with witnesses, and ultimately drafting, editing, and submitting to the federal court a 51-page legal memorandum (the federal prosecutor’s memo was 3 pages) which not only provided the Federal Court with a detailed history of our client but also gave a painstaking, insightful and historically accurate analysis of the actual federal sentencing guidelines as they relate to child pornography.

Step by step we showed the Court why the Federal Sentencing Guidelines were unfair to our client and why even the very lowest end of the sentencing range as set forth by the Congress of the United States was still unfair and unjust in our client’s case

After hours of argument, expert testimony and commentary by both the federal judge and the federal prosecutor as to how thorough our sentencing memo had been, this client received a result which was years less than the very lowest that Congress said he should receive.

Take Action Early

Craig M. Kadish & Associates, LLC is currently accepting a limited number of federal child pornography matters, reviewing them on a case by case basis to see if we can help.

Our practice continues to represent defendants in both State and Federal child pornography matters across the United States as well as having clients pending child pornography matters in foreign countries.

If you are being investigated for Child Pornography charges, contact us immediately for your free initial consultation.