This week, our firm got all of our client’s child pornography charges dismissed after we proved to prosecutors that the images in question did not depict any minors. The images on his electronic devices were actually screenshots of an adult pornography video from a popular website. Even though the video was on a public website and has been viewed millions of times, the investigators in this case mistakenly believed the video showed children.
The case started back in 2019 when officers executed a search warrant at our client’s house based on an anonymous tip and took all of his electronic devices. The officers had previously viewed pictures on our client’s “Flickr” account, where users can store pictures and videos, and mistakenly believed the pictures showed minors having sex. In fact, the pictures were screen shots of a porn video of two consenting adults. Our client tried to tell the police that they had made a mistake, but they refused to listen and proceeded to arrest and charge him with felony child porn offenses.
Our client hired our firm after his lawyer tried to pressure him to take a plea deal that would have required him to plead guilty to possessing child porn and register as a sex offender. Once we were hired, we found the video and the website hosting it, and we obtained written proof that the women in the video were adults. The women were very surprised to hear that an innocent man in South Georgia had been charged with child porn after viewing their videos. We provided all of this proof to the District Attorney’s Office.
Three years after his arrest, the District Attorney’s Office did the right thing and dismissed all of the charges against our client. And because the District Attorney acknowledged they could not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt in their dismissal order, our client will be able to get his record expunged so these false accusations don’t become an obstacle for housing or employment opportunities.
This case is proof that law enforcement officers and prosecutors can make mistakes, and these mistakes can lead to false accusations in some cases. For three years, our client had to live with these false charges hanging over his head.
