If you are facing charges for pornography possession, distribution, manufacturing, or other related charges, then you are facing serious penalties, including hefty fines and periods in jail or prison. Therefore, it is critical to work with an experienced child pornography defense attorney who can assess your case, address your questions and concerns, and help you build up a strong defense case in order to get your charges reduced or even dropped.
While facing child pornography charges may feel helpless, there are multiple legal options that can be pursued to optimize your case outcome. Being aware of the common defenses against child pornography charges is useful to understand how you can protect your rights and work to create your own optimal defense strategy. Your attorney may choose to employ one or more avenues of defense strategy in order to fight your charges in and out of court.
Defenses Commonly Employed in Child Pornography Cases
Child porn charges can be challenged in many ways, including options such as challenging the evidence, the arrest and search and seizure process, proving innocence with counterevidence, calling into question the validity of the prosecution’s evidence, and more. Some of the common defense strategies include:
- Alleged Entrapment. Entrapment by police is when law enforcement induces you to commit a child porn crime that you would not have committed otherwise if you were not contacted and persuaded into doing so. Entrapment is illegal, and proving such cases can result in the dropping of associated evidence.
- Illegal Search and Seizure. In order for the evidence seized to be used as valid against you, it must be seized legally by law enforcement. If police make a procedural error and violate your Fourth Amendment constitutional right, the evidence seized can be proved to be inadmissible in court.
- Possession by Accident. The Internet has complex cybertechnologies that can put certain files and media on your computer or in your possession without your knowledge. This can happen through spam, viruses, and malware, or a hacker can download child porn images on your computer without your consent. Accidental possession of such files is a common defense.
- Claims the Content Is Not Child Porn. In some cases, the evidence used against you can be challenged as not being child pornography. For example, if it can be proved that the people in the images are not under the age of 18, then the material may not indeed be considered to be child pornography.
- Alleged Addiction. While stating that the defendant is in a state of psychological addiction is not a tactic that can get a case dropped and is typically not the most ideal, it can help get sentencing minimized or help advocate for alternative sentencing.
- Claiming the Material Is Not Yours. Although certain incriminating evidence may be found on your computer or device, it may have been put there and utilized by another person. In such a case, you can argue that the material does not indeed belong to you.
Defense strategies for each child pornography defense case will vary depending on the details of the case, such as the available evidence, the prosecution’s claims, the criminal history of the defendant, the extent and nature of the charges, and the potential penalties. It’s important to work with a child pornography criminal defense lawyer who can understand your case, conduct deep investigations on your behalf, and help you move forward with a strong criminal defense strategy. Additionally, an experienced defense attorney can help you address any overlapping issues related to child sexual abuse charges, ensuring that your defense is comprehensive and focused on achieving the best possible outcome for your case.