Child pornography is an all too common crime in California and the rest of the country. Children are exploited daily for monetary gain and a lot of it is done digitally. If you are ever found to be in possession of child pornography you will face hefty fines and years in prison. You might also need to register as a sex offender where you live, putting your name out there to the public for all to see. If you ever face child porn charges in California you need to mount a defense immediately to protect your rights. Our Los Angeles child pornography defense attorney would like to discuss the following defense methods to such charges in today’s post.
A common defense method used when facing a charge of child pornography is that there was actually no possession by the defendant. This defense is commonly used when the porn found was discovered on a shared computer. For example, the defendant’s workplace was raided and the computer it was discovered on has multiple user accounts or is used by more than just the defendant during the day or night. Another example is if the computer, maybe a laptop, was left behind by mistake in a public place and someone else loaded the porn onto it.
Another common defense to child porn charges is that the material in question is actually not child pornography. Have an attorney take a good luck at the material discovered to determine if it is actually child porn. It needs to meet certain criteria and there are items that are exempt, such as educational material and drawings for movies.
If you believe that an illegal search of your property was performed then you should use this as your defense to child porn charges in California. If the police officer who obtained the search warrant lied to the judge in order to acquire it then the search can be deemed invalid. Another way to prove an illegal search is if the officers searched items or areas not covered by the scope of the warrant. For example, locked boxes were opened or computers not named in the warrant were taken.
There is another type of defense used when facing a child pornography charge in California and that is claiming entrapment. Entrapment occurs when police encourage someone to commit a crime in order to arrest them. If you were duped by a police officer to share, create, take ownership of or download child pornography it could very well be considered entrapment. The same can be said if the defendant purchased an item that was not labeled as something that would be perceived as child porn.
It’s possible that the defendant in a child porn case had possession of the material in question without intention. For example, the defendant clicked on a link by accident on a website that led to child porn images. Or, the material was inadvertently loaded onto their computer by someone else. The defendant might have also typed an incorrect web address and landed on a website that hosts child pornography.
Have you been charged with possession of child pornography? If so, our Los Angeles child pornography defense attorney can help you. Contact the team of Okabe & Haushalter at 310-430-7799 to schedule a consultation.
