New Frontier in Child Porn Battle: Damages for Possession of Images
The global patent director of Pfizer Inc. made news when he was arrested and charged with child pornography some two years ago. Now he’s back in the news for an unusual restitution order that is part of a new campaign to make sex offenders pay monetary damages for porn possession.
Last February, the former Pfizer executive, Alan Hesketh, was ordered to pay restitution to a woman whose uncle had chronicled her sex abuse more than 10 years ago and circulated the photos and videos on the Internet. Hesketh paid $130,000 on the theory that he owed damages to the woman because he downloaded her photo, even though he never participated in the abuse, the New York Times reports.
The Connecticut judge who ordered restitution for the abuse victim—the Times calls the victim “Amy”—was the first to do so, the Times says. “We’re dealing with a frontier here,” the judge said at the time. Since then, judges in two Florida cases have also ordered restitution payments to Amy, while judges in Texas and Maine refused.
Amy has received more than 800 notices under crime victim rights statutes alerting her that her photos have turned up in another prosecution, the story says. She is represented by James Marsh, who has in turn received assistance from University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell.
“Those notices disturb Amy when they arrive, but Mr. Marsh, looking at the same pieces of paper, saw an opportunity: he could intervene in the federal prosecutions and demand restitution,” the Times says. “He had Amy write a victim-impact statement and hired a psychologist to evaluate her. Economists developed a tally of damages that included counseling, diminished wages and lawyer fees. The total came to $3,367,854.”
Marsh is seeking restitution under a joint and several liability theory that holds every convicted porn defendant possessing Amy’s photo is liable for the full amount, until full damages are paid. So far Amy’s nightmare has brought her $170,000 in damages.
“This is a lawyer’s dream,” Marsh told the Times.
Related coverage:
Connecticut Law Tribune: “Paying Dearly For Child Porn Possession”
