Proving Defendant was Not a Threat to Children. Several years ago, I represented a client charged with 18 U.S.C. § 2252 child pornography, who will remain anonymous, but he had thousands of images, including photographs and videos of child porn.

Usually, he would have been facing 7 to 10 years in federal prison, but I could get him no time in jail.  Now, really what you need to do in these cases if you expect to get a good resolution, especially when you're talking about a sex crime, child pornography, is to look at your client.

This particular man was no threat to any children, which the prosecutors are always concerned about.  Instead of just going on the internet and looking at child pornography, some will go out and act and do something to a child, and obviously, that there's number one protection.

So, once I was able to show the sentencing judge that this defendant was not going to pose a threat to any children and all he was was someone looking at child pornography on the internet, I could keep him out of custody.

Indeed, he had other punishments and other things to deter him and others from committing internet child pornography sex crimes. However, the judge looked at this individual for who he was, what he had done, what type of a threat he posed to the public in the future, and really what was the fair thing to do based on this particular defendant. Our Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys will review further below.

Showing Judge Client's Redeeming Qualities

As a criminal defense attorney, you have to do when you represent somebody charged with a severe crime as possession, distribution, or production of child pornography.  You've got to humanize your client.

You've got to show the judge that your client has redeeming qualities.  You've got to get an expert involved who can talk about whether or not this particular defendant will be a recidivist — who is going to do something like this again.

You've got to get one of those psychological reports who knows how to deal with individuals who commit sex crimes.  You're going to have to evaluate what they call a static 99, where you're assessing whether or not a particular person is likely to commit a sex offense again,

Also, as a defense attorney, you're going to take all the things that match up that are good for your client and use those to get the best possible result. So, if you or a loved one is facing a serious charge — whether it's at the state or federal level — and child pornography can be prosecuted at either level, pick up the phone.

Make the call.  Let's sit down. Let's figure out the best strategy to get the best result possible, get your loved one out of the federal or state system, and avoid some of the horrible penalties that can come along with a child pornography case.