Duplicate Files Created by Backup System Count Toward Number of Child Porn Images

Duplicate digital images of child pornography created by a computer backup system are to be counted for purposes of the federal sentence enhancements that are based on the number of illegal images, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held March 1. “This particular interpretive issue is a question of first impression for this Court. There is also a dearth of case law on this question in other circuits,” the court reported. (United States v. McNerney)

U.S.S.G §2G2.2(b)(7) provides for graduated increases in offense level depending on the number of “images” involved in the offense. For ...