Facing Child Pornography Charges?
Attorney Stephen Sebald
Attorney Eric Hackwelder
Child Pornography Attorneys in Erie, PA
The criminal defense attorneys at Sebald, Hackwelder, & Knox represent clients charged with child pornography in state and federal court. Our offices are located in Erie, PA, but we have represented clients across the state on these serious charges. Federal and state child pornography statutes prohibit the production, possession, receipt, mailing, sale, distribution, shipment, or transportation of child pornography.
The federal statutes that criminalize sexual abuse and exploitation of minors prohibit conduct across a spectrum of activity, including the following:
- actual abuse;
- transporting minors with intent to abuse;
- commercial exploitation;
- promotion of abuse;
- the receipt, distribution, advertisement, or possession of child pornography; or
- engaging in abusive or exploitative enterprises.
Have Questions about Child Pornography Charges?
Federal convictions of child pornography offenses can result in decades of jail time. For those convicted of being in possession of child pornography, a prison sentence may be as long as 10 years. If the minor depicted in the pornography is under the age of 12, a prison sentence could be up to 20 years.
Posessing any type of visual media (images or photographs) depicting a minor (an individual under the age of 18) in a sexually explicit way is considered child pornography. Under federal law, undeveloped film, video tape, and electronically stored data are also considered child pornography as they can be converted into a visual media depicting a child in a sexually explicit way.
As child pornography is a form of child exploitation, it is very challenging to be acquitted of crimes involving this type of pornography. Children and minors are highly protected from exploitation (especially sexually) at both a state and federal level. If you’ve been charged with crimes involving child pornography, your best bet is to get an attorney who is experienced in defending this type of case to fight for you.
The federal government does not require that images considered to be child pornography involve a minor engaged in sexual activity for the images, videos or other visuals to be deemed as explicit. This is because a naked picture of a child is sexually suggestive, which means that it also would fall under the category of “explicit.”
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