Articles Posted in Child Pornography

Representation in cases involving Possession and Distribution of Child Pornography require expertise that only an Aggressive Criminal Law Specialist can provide.  I am a full time Maryland Criminal Attorney and former Baltimore County Assistant State’s Attorney with more than 20 years of experience.  Throughout my career as a prosecutor and full time criminal defense attorney,  I have handled hundreds of cases involving the Possession and/or Distribution of Child Pornography in Baltimore County and across the State.  Over the last 20 years I am aware of no other criminal attorney in the state who has handled more of these cases than I have along with my partner, Former Assistant United State’s Attorney and Chief of the Sex Offense Unit,  Andrew C. White.   As I have written before on this blog, these cases are prosecuted extremely aggressively and often result in substantial state and federal prison sentences.  This is why is is so imperative to hire attorneys who specialize in these types of cases.

Unfortunately, there are many lawyers who advertise for these cases who simply do not possess the necessary experience and expertise to effectively represent people who are charged with these offenses.  I strongly suggest that anyone who is considering hiring a criminal attorney for a case involving child pornography possession or distribution  (or any criminal case for that matter) , research all prospective attorneys on Maryland Case Search.  This is the official court record for all cases filed in Maryland and it does not allow for exaggeration of an attorney’s experience or credentials.

Today, the typical Child Pornography case involves the use of peer to peer,  (P2P) networks such as, Bit Torrent, Shareaza, Gnutella, eDonkey2000 and Kademlia  (commonly referred to as Kad) which allow people using P2P software to download and share files with other people on the network.  A Detective named Reese handles all of these investigations in Baltimore County and he is very good at his job.   In the typical case, the detectives will conduct online investigations using law enforcement investigative software.  When an IP address located in Maryland become associated with a device known to be of investigative interest to child pornography, they will link up with that computer and simultaneously download the material from the Maryland IP address as it is downloading it from the device known to contain child pornography.  Once they have this material, they will research the IP address and draft an application and affidavit for search and seizure warrant.

As a former Assistant State’s Attorney and current Aggressive Criminal Defense Attorney with decades of experience, I have handled scores of cases involving the illegal Possession and Distribution of Child Pornography. These cases can be charged in state court or in federal court where the penalties are far more severe. For this reason, I always team up with my partner Andrew White to work these cases as Andy is a former Federal Prosecutor who headed up the sex offense unit for 7 years. He has been very successful over the years at convincing his former colleagues to defer prosecution in these matters to the state courts. Even in State court, however, These are serious crimes that carry the possibility of a felony conviction and extended prison sentences. It may come as a surprise to some to learn that a even a conviction for Misdemeanor Possession of Child Pornography requires mandatory registration as a Tier I Sex Offender for 15 years. A conviction for Felony Distribution or Possession with the Intent to Distribute Child Pornography requires registration as a Tier II Sex Offender for 25 years.

For many people the prospect of having to register as a Sex Offender can be even more daunting than going to prison. Most people are aware of the terrible society limitations and stigma such a designation can carry including but not limited to: Limitations on where one can live, prohibition from even stepping on the property of their children’s schools, notification of neighbors by the police and inclusion on web sites that includes their pictures and exact locations of their homes. I recently represented a 21 year old man who found himself facing all of these daunting consequences. Here are the facts – as always in these types of cases, I have changed or left out enough identifying facts to protect my client’s anonymity but the facts of the case are completely accurate:

My client is a young man who has no prior criminal or juvenile record. He grew up in a middle class family in the Washington DC suburbs. He graduated from high school had been attending community college part time for the last three years earning most of the credits needed to be awarded an associate degree . His plan is to transfer to a four year university to complete his studies. He was still living at home to save money and was working in a restaurant to help pay for his tuition and living expenses. Basically, he was a normal young guy living a normal life – at least until 5:00 AM one morning last summer.