United States v. Goettsch, No. 15-1358 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant pled guilty to possession of child pornography, was sentenced to 60 months in imprison, and was placed on five years of supervised release with a special condition imposed that restricts his use of electronic devices and the internet. The court concluded that the district court did not plainly err in imposing a special condition limiting defendant's computer use and internet access where the record demonstrates that for the past decade defendant actively downloaded thousands of child pornography images, and defendant also shared files over the internet through a file sharing program. In this case, the computer and internet restriction imposed by the district court is reasonable because it is not a total ban on internet and computer use. Accordingly, the court affirmed the sentence.
Court Description: Murphy, Author, with Smith and Benton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. The district court did not err in imposing a special condition of defendant's supervised release which forbids him from possessing a computer with internet facilities or a device with photographic capabilities without the approval of his probation officer as the record showed defendant had downloaded thousands of child pornography images and shared them over a computer network, and the order permitted him to use a computer for proper purposes with the approval of his probation officer.
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