United States v. Richardson, IV, No. 11-20773 (5th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseDefendant challenged his conviction for distribution of child pornography, arguing that he did not "distribute" child pornography by storing images in a shared folder accessible on a peer-to-peer computer network. Considering that defendant was a computer technician with computer experience, he affirmatively downloaded the LimeWare program, he maintained 144 videos of child pornography in his shared folder, he knew that others could access the materials stored in his shared folder, and a law enforcement officer actually downloaded one such video, the court held that the evidence was sufficient to support a finding that defendant distributed child pornography under 18 U.S.C. 2254(a)(2)(B). Any error in calculating the total offense level was harmless, given the district court's clear statements that it would have imposed the same sentence regardless of the correctness in the calculation. Accordingly, the court affirmed the conviction and sentence.
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