Even being charged, let alone convicted of committing a violent crime can have a huge impact on your freedom, your job, and your reputation. You need to act fast.
Creating, sharing, or possessing pornographic material containing minors could be charged as a misdemeanor or felony offense. However, even without a conviction, simply being accused of possessing child pornography could have serious implications for your personal and professional life.
For this reason, it is highly important to seek legal representation from an accomplished local defense attorney. A San Leandro child pornography lawyer could investigate your case and seek weaknesses in the prosecution’s claims to help protect your freedom.
In California, any material that depicts a person under the age of 18 participating in or simulating sexual conduct, that could be considered child pornography. The content has to be considered “obscene,” meaning lacking artistic, literary, or scientific value.
If someone is found to be doing the following in regards to child pornography, he or she could be face criminal liability:
Child pornography charges could have serious implications on a person’s life, even without a guilty verdict, so it is highly important to work with an accomplished defense attorney in San Leandro for guidance.
A distinguishing aspect of child pornography cases is the electronic data that is associated with them. In many sex crimes cases, investigation can be centered on tracing electronic data, investigating deleted items on a hard drive, or searching through online documents and images to locate the purported pornography.
Oftentimes, there are warrants that are issued to seize and search electronic devices in order for law enforcement to download electronic data and determine whether there is anything that is obscene and amounts to child pornography. Law enforcement also look for memorialized child porn data transmissions and imagery that has been sent back and forth in various mediums. This could include cameras, videos, tapes, CDs, DVDs, or photographs that may have been used to store audio or visual representations of pornography containing minors.
Oftentimes, undercover agents are used in sting operations online. Sharing of illicit material involving minors frequently occurs in various chatrooms or pornographic-based sites. Law enforcement visits these sites looking for individuals who are communicating with people they believe to be minors but are really undercover officers engaging in sting operations to hunt down child predators.
Undercover officers include local police officers or potentially federal agents if the explicit content crosses jurisdictions or if a task force has been formed. People in San Leandro who believe they are being investigated for child pornography should quickly retain an experienced attorney in the area to begin building a defense right away.
Sexting cases can be considered child pornography if the images that are shared are obscene, expose the genitalia of a minor, or simulate sexual conduct by a minor. A unique issue in these cases is that many minors do not realize that they are producing or exchanging child pornography when they are sending nudes or explicit images. Taking selfies in sexually suggestive ways is considered production of child pornography, especially when it is being exchanged to another, even if the person creating the content is a minor.
Being accused of possessing pornographic content containing minors has serious ramifications that could permanently impact your future. You could face high fines and periods of incarceration along with sex offender registration and immigration consequences and relinquishment of many rights. Due to the severity of the potential penalties, it is essential to work with an experienced San Leandro child pornography lawyer from the onset of your case.
Do not hesitate to seek legal representation. Call our office today and schedule your free case consultation.