Attorney: Dylan W. Greenwood
Charge: Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Case Result: Plead Guilty; Sentenced to Minimum of Five (5) Years
District: Middle District of North Carolina
What Happened
Law enforcement officers from the State Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security followed activity from our client that they had downloaded marked files. Based on this information they obtained a search warrant. While serving the warrant, law enforcement officers seized multiple computers and hard drives.
Law enforcement officials then began searching our client’s computer after consent was given, but they ran into encryption.
All Writs Act
Because law enforcement authorities ran into encryption, they wanted to use an uncommon aspect of federal law to compel our client to provide the hard drives in an unencrypted state—the All Writs Act. We argued that doing this implicated the Fifth Amendment. We wrote briefs to the Court, obtained testimony at a hearing, and argued intensely before a judge. However, the Court did not agree and compelled him to provide the hard drives in an unencrypted state.
Time Our Client Was Facing
Federal sentencing guidelines for sexual exploitation of a minor (a.k.a. child pornography) are very steep. The base offense level is 22 and additional points are added for certain individual characteristics of the criminal offense. These are typically based on the number of images seized and what is depicted in the images.
Furthermore, defendants charged with certain sexual exploitation of a minor charges in Federal court are faced with steep mandatory minimum sentences—starting at five (5) years in federal prison. However, the additional points added on typically propel an accused defendant’s recommended sentence to be well beyond the mandatory minimum. That is why it is important for an attorney to be involved with your case as early as possible. Sometimes an attorney can work with authorities to help steer a case away from Federal Court and these mandatory minimums. In this case, however, it was unavoidable. Federal authorities were involved and keeping it that way from the start.
Sentencing Hearing
At the Sentencing Hearing, we were able to successfully argue for a downward departure to the mandatory minimum of five (5) years. In preparation, we wrote a robust sentencing memorandum to the Court and argued the §3553(a) factors. §3553(a) factors are the things a federal sentencing court considers about the accused defendant in determining a final sentence. It is important to have an attorney, who not only understand these facts, but knows how to apply them to your case for presentation to a court.