ATLANTA (AP) — The federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled Friday that a Georgia man who was sentenced to five years in prison on child pornography charges must pay restitution to one of his victims. The ruling was a first for the circuit that covers Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a judge's order requiring Ricky Lee McDaniel to pay $12,700 to a victim whose picture was found among a stash of 600 images of child pornography. The images show the girl, who was 10 at the time, being raped and abused by her father.
"Like the producers and distributors of child pornography, the possessors of child pornography victimize the children depicted within," U.S. Circuit Judge Charles R. Wilson wrote in the ruling. "The end users of child pornography enable and support the continued production of child pornography."
The ruling set a precedent in the circuit, though the 10-page decision noted that three other federal circuits have issued similar opinions.
The victim, who the court dubbed "Vicky," initially sought about $185,000 for past and future therapy, but a federal judge downgraded the request.
At McDaniel's trial, prosecutors read a statement from the victim where she said she struggled "every day with the horrible knowledge that someone somewhere is watching the most terrifying moments of my life and taking grotesque pleasure in them."
McDaniel's attorney countered that he didn't cause the victim any harm, but instead her father and the distribution of the images was at the root of the problem. He said restitution should only be required if a defendant's conduct actually harmed the child.
But the court's ruling echoed an expert's opinion who said the image's release is a "slow acid drip" of trauma that worsened her emotional issues. "He testified that each notification is 'extraordinarily distressing and emotionally painful' to Vicky and that Vicky suffers 'each time an individual views an image.'"Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Court-upholds-restitution-for-child-porn-victim-983140.php#ixzz0gtONwt21
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a judge's order requiring Ricky Lee McDaniel to pay $12,700 to a victim whose picture was found among a stash of 600 images of child pornography. The images show the girl, who was 10 at the time, being raped and abused by her father.
"Like the producers and distributors of child pornography, the possessors of child pornography victimize the children depicted within," U.S. Circuit Judge Charles R. Wilson wrote in the ruling. "The end users of child pornography enable and support the continued production of child pornography."
The ruling set a precedent in the circuit, though the 10-page decision noted that three other federal circuits have issued similar opinions.
The victim, who the court dubbed "Vicky," initially sought about $185,000 for past and future therapy, but a federal judge downgraded the request.
At McDaniel's trial, prosecutors read a statement from the victim where she said she struggled "every day with the horrible knowledge that someone somewhere is watching the most terrifying moments of my life and taking grotesque pleasure in them."
McDaniel's attorney countered that he didn't cause the victim any harm, but instead her father and the distribution of the images was at the root of the problem. He said restitution should only be required if a defendant's conduct actually harmed the child.
But the court's ruling echoed an expert's opinion who said the image's release is a "slow acid drip" of trauma that worsened her emotional issues. "He testified that each notification is 'extraordinarily distressing and emotionally painful' to Vicky and that Vicky suffers 'each time an individual views an image.'"Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Court-upholds-restitution-for-child-porn-victim-983140.php#ixzz0gtONwt21
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