Limited Restitution for Porn Distribution

Victim's "ongoing losses" cannot be taken into account for the restitution calculation of a man's online distribution of child pornography.

 

United States v. Galan, 0215 BL 363014, 9th Cir, No. 14-30145, 11/4/15

    Restitution calculations of a man's online distribution of child pornography should be limited to the damages that are attributable to the trafficking alone, and not the victim's "ongoing losses".

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that "[t]hose who later participate in distribution or possession, especially at a more remote time, are part of a distribution crime, but not of the physical-abuse crime."

    The Ninth circuit determined that the district judge erred when she did not attempt "to disaggregate the losses resulting from the original abuse from the losses resulting from Galan's own activities."

    The court indicated that this type of calculation is outside of the requirements of Paroline v. United States. The court was persuaded by the 10th Circuit approach in United States v. Dunn, where the court determined that the calculation of an award in a child pornography case should start with the estimate of the victim's expenses for the harms caused by the trafficking of the victim's images, and then subtract an estimate of the expenses caused by the harms from the original abuse.

http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/United_States_v_Galan_No_1430145_2015_BL_363014_9th_Cir_Nov_04_20?1449779320