No word on that yet. The family doesn’t really like to talk about it and I’m sure not gonna bring up the subject.
If the standard for kiddy porn is “females younger than 18” how does that tie into the age of consent of individual states which are from 16-18 year old? If you have a hardcore pic on your PC of a 17 year old in a state where the AOC is 16 are you in violation of the law?
“except in California” seems to apply to a lot of things…
In a court of law? Damned straight!
It wasn’t the court of public opinion that would have sentenced the guy to death.
I’ve noticed lately that beer commercials here in Canada, who have a promotion with their beer (which seems to be every brand and commercial lately) say “Must be 19 years of age or older” in all of them, even though the drinking age here in Manitoba (and a few other provinces) is 18. I first thought it was a huge gyp (despite being well above said age), but then realized that by taking the highest number, everyone is eligible.
I think much the same thing applies here, in order to have some sort of nation-wide standard, the highest number applies.
There’s no magic age detector that can identify barely-not-legal porn, unless they identify classic stuff like Traci Lords’ underage work. Typically if I see something about child porn being found, I assume that either the subject(s) of the porn are known to have been underage at the time of the pics (photos of minor relatives/neighbors, of current high school students, etc.) or are obviously in no way 18 years old (obvious pre-teen or younger). I wonder what police investigators who deal with this stuff do - do they skip over maybe-teen/maybe-legal pics unless they have a reason to suspect the person is targeting teens known to him to get pics?
Interesting topic, isn’t it? Like the 15 year old girl who took a picture of herself in the nude, then sent it by cellphone to her 15 year old boyfriend. Someone happened to see it, which led to an overzealous prosecutor charging her with the felony of Distribution of Child Porn. Which shows that prosecutors are not as smart as people would presume. If she were the perpetrator, she would also be the victim. Under the law, you can’t be both.
Anyway, the law applies to adults. What does pertain to minors is that adults are prohibited by the law from making pornography (any pornography) available to minors. Contrary to popular belief, it is not illegal for minors to possess pornography, although it can be confiscated.
What about place where suicide is illegal? Or is this comment specific to child abuse?
I’m not sure where Drain Bead practices, or what the local practice is there. I am a public defender in NoVA. A lot of times, in a situation like this, the Court will appoint the Public Defender for bond only. Once the defendant presumably bonds out, they need to hire an attorney. This helps to eliminate the access issue. They can always come back to the Court and request a PD be appointed if their financial circumstances have changed. If the defendant is unable to bond out, and is unable to access their money, the PD will stay on in the case.
Upthread, someone asked what happens to your money if you are found not guilty. To answer: you do not have to pay for court costs (which can be substantial with a felony jury trial), or court appointed attorney’s fees. If you have hired a private attorney, you don’t get that money back. But if you were found not guilty, it would seem to be money well spent.
In the US, suicide is not illegal in ANY of the 50 states or the territories, for exactly that reason. The perpetrator would also be the victim. Those who fail to carry out a suicide attempt are not charged with “attempted murder.” They are, however, usually placed in observation as a danger to themselves, but even then, only for as long as medical personnel can provide evidence that the danger still exists.
Certain other countries do make suicide illegal, including successful cases. How do you prosecute a dead person? By confiscating the property and/or wealth of the surviving family. Which is penalizing someone for the action of another.