Federal Child Pornography Charges – Outright Acquittal

Case

United States v. W.B.; Case No.: 08-14010-CR-GRAHAM (SDFLA)

Category

Computer and Sex Crimes

Arresting Agency

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Result

Outright Acquittal

Our client was charged with possession of over 5,000 images of child pornography in Federal court in the Southern District of Florida.  The agents that investigated the case executed a search warrant at our clients home and found these images on a computer shared by other occupatnts of the home.  Our defense focused on the idea that another occupant of the home could have been the person behind the keyboard when the child pornography was downloaded, viewed, and saved on the computer. We were also able to show that once this other occupant moved out, the pornographic activity on the computer came to a screeching halt. We kept the jury from viewing innocent, yet potentially prejudicial and irrelevant photographs of my client and his granddaughter. Our cross-examination of the FBI agents completely dismantled the government’s case. We unabashedly called out the FBI and it’s poor and incomplete investigation. They never saw it coming. After a week long trial that ended on a Friday afternoon, Brian Mallonee and his client sat across from two seasoned federal prosecutors and an FBI Agent awaiting the unanimous verdict.  The jury returned with a verdict of NOT GUILTY on both counts.