by Marc Neff
Superior Court of Pennsylvania Rules that Prosecution Cannot Use a Defendant’s Silence to Prove That He is Guilty of Murder
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania reversed a Defendant’s homicide conviction in the case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Michael Molina, Appellant. Molina appealed from the judgment of sentence entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Criminal Division (Pennsylvania), following his conviction for murder in the third degree and unlawful restraint. The victim in the case...
by Marc Neff
Coach who Taped His Female Wrestlers Weighing In on a Scale Is Guilty of Attempted Sexual Exploitation
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided the case of United States of America, Appellant, v. Scott Johnson, Appellee, an appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. A jury had found Scott Johnson guilty of eight counts of attempted sexual exploitation of children, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251, after he secretly videotaped...
by Marc Neff
Defendant’s Child Pornography Conviction Overturned Where Other People Had Equal Access to the Computer Used to Download the Pornography
A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has reversed a child pornography conviction in United States of America v. Keith Moreland. At the trial of this case, the prosecutor introduced 112 digital images of alleged child pornography that a local police officer found on two home computers owned by Keith Moreland and his wife Dianna. Because Keith’s father, George...
by Marc Neff
PA Superior Court Rejects Random Searches of Home as Condition of Probation
In the recently decided case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Alexander, No. 2555 EDA 2008, 2011 WL 941191, 2011 PA Super 54 (March 18, 2011), the PA Superior Court considered whether a condition of the defendant’s probation which subjected him to random searches of his residence violated his rights under both the federal and Pennsylvania Constitutions. The defendant had entered an open...
by Marc Neff
Ninth Circuit: Deleted Computer File Not Enough For Child Porn Conviction
In the recently decided case, U.S. v. Flyer, No. 08-10580 (2-8-11), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that deletion of an image alone is insufficient evidence to support a conviction for knowing possession of child pornography on or about a certain date under US federal law. In an undercover operation, the FBI had downloaded various files containing child porn through a...
by Marc Neff
Third Circuit Upholds Warrant in Child Pornography Case
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently found that a search warrant in a child pornography case was sufficient, even if not based on a detailed description of the computer hard drive being searched. In US v. Miknevich, 2011 US App. LEXIS 3824 (3d Cir. March 1, 2011), the Court considered whether the affidavit providing the basis for a search warrant in a child pornography case need to...
by Marc Neff
PA Supreme Court Finds Search of Woman’s Purse Unreasonable
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recently reversed a decision by the Superior Court that a police officer had reasonable suspicion to conduct a warrantless search of a woman’s handbag for safety reasons based solely on the fact that the owner of the handbag was located inside a residence where another individual had been selling drugs. The case arose from an incident where, after a drug sale...
by Marc Neff
Third Circuit Criticizes Child Porn Sentencing Guidelines
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a New Jersey U.S. District Judge’s decision to impose a sentence of less than the mandatory minimum for a defendant convicted of child pornography charges. In United States v. Grober, the defendant pled guilty to six child pornography charges. Under the sentencing guildelines set forth by the Department of Justice, the judge was advised to...
by Marc Neff
Peer-to-Peer Networks Remain Target of Child Pornography Investigations
Although a federal judge ordered peer-to-peer (“P2P”) network LimeWire to shut down last month due to copyright infringement issues, investigations continue by law enforcement officials into the use of older versions of LimeWire and other P2P networks as forums for the distribution of child pornography. Since 2003, federal law enforcement agencies have undertaken a major initiative against the...
by Marc Neff