What to Expect if You’re Facing Child Porn Charges in Chicago

AUTHOR(S):

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Gus is a former prosecutor and experienced trial attorney who has successfully litigated thousands of criminal cases. He has earned a reputation as a tough and aggressive attorney who achieves outstanding results for his clients.

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Any act involving child pornography is a serious crime. If you’re facing child pornography charges, defending yourself vigorously is critical to preserving your freedom and reputation. Without a strong criminal defense strategy, you may be sentenced to a lengthy prison term and end up on the sex offender registry.

A criminal defense attorney from Kostopoulos Law Group can defend your rights and fight for a dismissal, fair plea deal, or acquittal at trial.

The Serious Nature of Child Pornography Charges in Illinois

U.S. and Illinois law prohibit the production, distribution, and possession of child pornography. Anyone who violates these laws can face severe penalties.

These laws are understandable. Criminalizing child pornography offenses gives prosecutors the tools to find and punish those who commit voyeurism, child sexual exploitation, or other traumatizing acts to produce child pornography.

Additionally, policymakers believe that harsh treatment of those facing child pornography charges will prevent them from escalating from possession of child pornography to more serious sex offenses like child exploitation or sexual abuse.

Regardless of the validity of these assumptions, the result is that child pornography is always illegal and can lead to harsh punishments.

Understanding State and Federal Jurisdiction

Although state and federal child pornography laws overlap, law enforcement agencies have distinct jurisdictional limitations. These jurisdictional limits apply to child pornography cases as follows:

Child Pornography Under Illinois Law

Illinois law covers acts that occur within the state’s borders. Specifically, the state’s child porn laws prohibit the following activities:

  • Producing pornographic images, videos, or other visual depictions of minors
  • Reproducing, selling, or distributing child pornography
  • Producing a live performance or depiction by computer-generated images of child pornography
  • Soliciting or enticing a minor to appear in child pornography
  • Knowingly permitting a minor in the person’s care to appear in child pornography
  • Possessing child pornography
  • Soliciting a person to provide a child for child pornography

Illinois defines “child pornography” as any visual depiction, including films, videos, and photographs, that shows a person under 18 engaged in any of the following acts:

  • Sexual intercourse or sexually explicit conduct involving another person
  • Masturbation
  • Lewd touching
  • Excretion or urination in a sexual context
  • Bondage or other sadomasochistic abuse in a sexual context
  • Posing unclothed or transparently clothed in a lewd way

Notably, the law prohibits both actual and simulated acts. Thus, any visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexual activity can provide grounds for prosecution, even if the act was only simulated or generated by AI.

Child Pornography Under Federal Law

Federal statutes cover any interstate or international activity involving child pornography. Moreover, they encompass activities that use instruments of interstate commerce, such as the U.S. mail system or the internet.

U.S. law defines child pornography as a visual depiction of a person under 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. These laws also cover digital images that have been created or modified to appear to depict a minor.

Federal law prohibits all sexually explicit photographs, videos, and images, even if they don’t show sexual conduct. Mere nudity might be enough if the pose is sexually suggestive.

Like state law, federal law covers all of the following acts involving child pornography:

  • Production
  • Distribution
  • Receipt
  • Possession

The federal statutes cover these acts even when one of the parties is outside the U.S. For example, federal prosecutors can bring federal child pornography charges when someone inside the country buys a digital file containing child pornography, even if the person selling the file is in another country.

How Child Porn Cases Are Investigated in Chicago

State and federal law enforcement officials expend significant time and resources to find and prosecute those who they believe have violated child porn laws.

Investigations can be initiated in many ways, including reports from child victims. However, two of the most common starting points for child porn charges in Illinois are string operations and reports from individuals who found or saw something on another person’s electronic device.

For example, someone might report finding child pornography on a used computer they bought or seeing images of a child engaging in sexual activity on a roommate’s phone. In other cases, police cases might work in the opposite direction, with investigators lurking in online forums to try to get users to share incriminating material.

Once the police have a lead, they can employ powerful investigative tools to identify ISPs to tie child pornography to a particular device. By seizing a phone or computer, they can recover deleted files, search the owner’s internet browsing history, and decrypt secure messages to track down evidence of criminal offenses.

What happens after a child porn arrest? In some cases, prosecutors file criminal charges based solely on forensic evidence. However, in most cases, they use the available evidence to try to get a confession.

Investigators may use the threat of prison to pressure suspects into confessing to possessing or distributing sexually explicit material involving a child. If possible, they may try to use the suspect to work their way backward to find the person responsible for producing the original images or videos.

Potential Penalties and Life-Changing Consequences of Violating Child Pornography Laws

State and federal child pornography charges carry hefty punishments. The charge for those facing child porn allegations in Chicago involving depictions of a child between 13 and 17 is usually a Class 1 felony, with two exceptions.

Distributing child pornography depicting a child between 13 and 17 is a Class X felony, and possessing child pornography depicting a child between 13 and 17 is a Class 3 felony for pictures and a Class 2 felony for videos.

All these charges are upgraded when the child depicted is under 13. All charges are treated as a Class X felony except simple possession of child pornography, which becomes a Class 2 felony for all types of material.

Illinois also has a repeat offender enhancement that imposes a mandatory minimum sentence of nine years in prison for all offenses except possession if the defendant was previously convicted of sex offenses or child pornography charges. Repeat offenses of simple possession are upgraded to a Class 1 felony.

Many factors go into sentencing in Illinois. However, according to the state’s sentencing chart, the range of sentences for felonies is typically as follows:

  • Class X felony, six to 30 years
  • Class 1 felony, four to 15 years
  • Class 2 felony, three to seven years
  • Class 3 felony, two to five years

State judges are allowed to sentence defendants to probation instead of prison for some or all of the sentence for Class 1 through 3 felonies. Probation is not available for Class X felonies.

According to federal sentencing guidelines, possession of child pornography is punishable with a sentence of up to five years, with a two-year mandatory minimum sentence if the material depicted a child 12 years or younger.

Other violations, such as the production or distribution of pornographic materials, carry a mandatory minimum term of five or 10 years in federal prison.

Under both state and federal law, a person convicted of child porn charges must register as a sex offender. In Illinois, the minimum term of sex offender registration is 10 years.

Legal Defense Strategies That May Apply

The potential penalties for possessing or producing child pornography are intimidating. However, a skilled attorney may know how to beat child pornography charges in Chicago based on your circumstances. Your lawyer might employ the following strategies:

Unintentional Possession

The law requires you to have knowingly possessed child pornography. If you received child porn inadvertently while seeking something else, you lacked the intent necessary to commit child pornography offenses.

However, defending against child pornography charges using this argument may require evidence that you never looked at the files or deleted them after determining their content. If you kept child porn that was inadvertently received, prosecutors will likely claim that you “possessed” them.

Entrapment

Entrapment occurs when a law enforcement officer persuades or coerces you into violating the law. It can happen during sting operations where the officer persuades and cajoles a suspect into doing something they’ve never done before, like accepting child pornography images.

To assert this defense, you must show that you had no predisposition to commit the crime until the officer pushed you into it.

Fraud

A mistake of age isn’t a defense under Illinois’s statute. Rather, a violation occurs whenever the material depicts someone whom the defendant knew or should have known was underage.

However, fraud may be a defense if you attempted to ascertain the other person’s age and they deliberately misled you. For example, if you produced a video and the person who appeared in it looked over 18 but showed you a fake ID, you might have a defense if it turns out they were a minor.

Illegal Search

The U.S. Constitution protects you from unlawful searches and seizures. This means that police must have one of the following to conduct a lawful search of your property, including your electronic devices:

  • Your permission
  • A valid search warrant
  • Exigent circumstances, such as an imminent risk of destruction, plus probable cause
  • An exception to the warrant requirement, such as plain sight or a search incident to a lawful arrest

If the police found the child pornography during an unlawful search, the court can exclude the evidence against you at trial.

Speak With a Chicago Criminal Defense Attorney Today

A conviction on child pornography charges can alter your life forever. You could lose your freedom and good reputation after being branded a child pornographer, sex offender, or pedophile.

Strong child pornography legal defense strategies could potentially mitigate these consequences. Contact Kostopoulos Law Group today to discuss your case and begin mounting a defense against your criminal charges.

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