Child Pornography
Criminal charges for child pornography in Michigan often begin with the police getting a tip from somebody that a suspect has kiddie porn on their computer. These tips come from co-workers, internet service providers, vendors, spouses, children, other police agencies and even computer repair people. Having received such a report, the police form probable cause to suspect criminal activity and specifically kiddie porn. That reasonable suspicion leads to them requesting a search warrant to search your computer and peripherals.
After the search, the computer will be sent to the Michigan State Police crime lab or some other facility that is qualified to properly examine the computer’s storage. If child pornography images, photos or videos are found on your hard drive, this would be the basis for a criminal charge. This could even be from images that were not intentionally downloaded.
Even images that you deleted from your hard drive can still be recovered by computer forensic examiners and then used against you in a charge of a child pornography crime. Lots of people mistakenly think that deleting something from their computer’s hard drive will really delete it. That normally is not the case. It is not easy to permanently delete something from a hard drive.
The Kronzek Firm is a statewide Michigan criminal defense team with decades of extensive experience defending allegations of sex crimes such as child pornography. Our attorneys are recognized all over Michigan for our case results, which include many acquittals and dismissals.
Even the possession of child pornography is a serious criminal offense, and is punished with prison time and even registration as a sex offender. Distributing child pornography, or kiddie porn images is a different offense that is even more serious and therefore often charged under federal statutes. Those federal kiddie porn laws carry penalties that are far more severe than our Michigan sentences.
In child porn cases, defenses often focus on technical issues. This could be whether you knowingly possessed the images. Perhaps other people accessed your computer, or even hijacked your network and downloaded the images to your computer without your knowledge or consent. This type of hacking happens even in places such as Fenton, Farmington Hills, Big Rapids, and Kent County.
When somebody’s computer is wrongfully used, innocent people are sometimes convicted of sharing or possession of kiddie porn. Prosecutors are required to prove that what was found on your computer was an actual image. Interestingly, an image includes even an avatar or the likeness of a human being. To craft your defense, our criminal lawyers work with a high level of technical sophistication and usually bring on expert witnesses.
Because child pornography is illegal under Michigan law and federal law, it is not unusual to be charge in both state and federal prosecutions. In federal court, the penalties are so much more severe and the rules for the admission of evidence are more in favor of the prosecution. Our team of lawyers are experienced with these cases on both state and federal levels.
Free attorney consultation: Fill out our contact form or call 1-866-766-5245 twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week to speak with an experienced Michigan defense lawyer about your child porn case. Our attorneys represent clients throughout Michigan, including Lansing, Flint, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Holland, Battle Creek, Muskegon, Saginaw, and Kalamazoo.