Internet Sex Crime Defense Lawyers In Boise ID

Idaho has some of the most severe penalties in the United States for sex crimes. In addition to potentially spending decades in prison, being convicted of a sex crime will also require you to be registered as a sex offender. This will prevent you from being able to work or live within certain distances of parks, schools, and other places where children gather. It will determine whether property management companies will take you as a tenant, as well as dictate employment opportunities in the future.  Contact our Internet Sex Crime Defense Lawyers In Boise ID immediately if you have been accused.

When you retain our criminal defense firm in Boise to represent you, our Boise Internet sex crime attorney will conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations that have been made against you. Our law firm in Idaho has the experience and skill to successfully defend individuals faced with various kinds of sex crime allegations. Our firm is committed to protecting your reputation and maximizing your privacy in every possible way while seeking to get the charges against you dismissed or reduced.

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We Handle All Kinds of Online Sex Offenses

Quite often, Internet sex crimes involve using online communication tools such as e-mail, chat rooms, Craigslist, Facebook, and much more. The following are examples of various types of Internet sex crimes:

  • Using the Internet to make arrangements with a minor for a sexual meeting
  • Texts that contain pornographic images of minors
  • Sending sexually explicit e-mails to a minor
  • Sexually exploiting a minor
  • Child pornography

Little Known Facts About 
Internet Sex Crimes

Many people are unaware of some of the most important facts regarding internet sex crimes. Some of those facts include the following:

  • Peer-to-peer file-sharing can cause child pornography to be shared unknowingly
  • Child pornography is contained in some computer viruses which can be passed onto a person’s hard drive without their consent.
  • Entrapment techniques are applied to Internet stings which then can be used in court as a defense against charges
  • A person’s hard drive might need to be examined by computer experts in order to collect evidence
  • The search and seizure of a computer can be a problem.
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A Chat May Lead To Child Enticement

Often a police officer will pose as a minor in a chat room and participate in sexual conversations with the other visitors in the chat room. The conversation might not appear to be a conversation with a child, however, at some point in the conversation, the posing police officer will say that she or he is under the age of 16.

Anyone under 16 years old is considered to be a child. Any person 18 years or older who knowingly uses the internet or any devices that can send a message (email, text, chat, Instagram, Facebook), video image, or other communication to “solicit, seduce, lure, persuade, or entice by words or actions, or both” into any sexual act with or against the person is considered  Enticing A Child Through Use of the Internet under Idaho Code 18-1509A.

The penalties for Enticing a Child or Child Enticement include a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and require Sex Offender Registration.

The fact that a law enforcement officer or maybe even a “cat-fisher” is less than 16 years old is often overlooked as the conversation continues at an adult level. There are many adults who are arrested by a police officer when they try meeting the individual who posed as a minor.

Downloaded Child Pornography

The Internet can, unfortunately, be a really dangerous place. Dangerous consequences can arise from surfing innocent websites. Often police monitor known websites containing child pornography. Law enforcement agents use information from IP transmission in order to obtain warrants for a computer user’s IP address. That information can lead to a police officer knocking on the door and searching laptops, modems, and computers for evidence of any child pornography on these devices.

There are often circumstances where individuals may send child pornography to individuals not asking for it through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or some other medium. It is important to reach out to a Boise Criminal Defense Lawyer if this has occurred to you.

There are situations where people use the sending of child pornography as threats. For example, there are schemes where an individual will engage another through Facebook or other platform. A chat conversation will ensue until eventually the person announces their age and sends a pornographic picture of themselves and then demand money or they will be turned in for possession of Child Pornography. It is important that you contact a Criminal Defense Lawyer immediately if this happens to you.

What is the Law Against Possession of Child Pornography in Idaho?

Possession of Child Pornography is formally falls under the charge of “Sexual Exploitation of a Child” per Idaho Code 18-1507(2). This law states that a person commits sexual exploitation of a child if he “knowingly and willfully” does one of the following:

  1. possesses or accesses through any means including, but not listed to, the internet, any sexually exploitive material; or
  2. causes induces or permits a child to engage in, or be used for, any explicit sexual conduct for the purpose of producing or making sexually exploitive material; or
  3. distributes through any means including, but not limited to, mail, physical deliver or exchange, use of a computer or any other electronic or digital method, any sexually exploitive material. Distribution of sexually exploitive material noes not require a pecuniary transaction or exchange of interests in order to complete the offense.

“Sexually exploitive material” is defined  in Idaho Code 18-1507(j) as “any image, photograph, motion picture, video, print, negative, slide, or other mechanically, electronically, digitally or chemically produced or reproduced visual material which shows a child engaged in, participating in, observing, or being used for explicit sexual conduct, or showing a child engaging in, participating in, observing or being used for explicit sexual conduct, in actual time, including, but not limited to, video chat, webcam sessions or video calling.”

What are the Penalties for Possession of Child Pornography in Idaho?

The penalties for possession of Child Pornography in Idaho are a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $10,000. It will also include the requirement that the individual convicted register as a sex offender. An individual who actually creates and distributes Child Pornography faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $50,000. They will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Oftentimes those in possession of Child Pornography have more than one image or video. It is important to understand that each item of Child Pornography possessed can make up one charge of Child Exploitation. It is possible that the prosecutor “stacks” the charges by charging each count separately which creates the possibility that the penalties for the charges are also stacked. Therefore, for example, if someone is charged with possession of 10 items of Child Pornography, they may face 100 years in prison. (Maximum penalty of 10 years per item X 10 items =100 year maximum penalty).

Contact Hooper Law For Our Internet Sex Crime Defense Lawyers In Boise ID

To convict you of an Internet sex crime in Boise, it is required that the prosecution prove that you broke the law intentionally and willfully. If you were not aware that you were meeting a person who was a minor or the minor mispresented herself of himself, then your lawyer might be able to get the charges dismissed against you.

If you were arrested in a sting operation, then your sex crimes defense attorney in Boise might be able to argue that it was entrapment. Consulting with an experienced sex crime lawyer immediately after being arrested is very important so your lawyer can start to investigate the incident and find weaknesses in the prosecutor’s case against you.

Unfortunately, there are many innocent people who get arrested for an Internet sex crime. It was often another person who downloaded some child pornography onto their computer without them being aware of it. You might have downloaded an image mistakenly that you didn’t intend to or made arrangements to meet with a person who you believed was older.

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