Criminal Justice
Viewing Child Porn Violates Possession Law, Court Rules
Posted Aug 24, 2007, 06:22 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A Pennsylvania appeals court has ruled in an en banc opinion that a defendant can be charged with possession of child pornography even though he did not download the images he viewed on his computer.
The opinion (PDF) reverses a panel decision, the Legal Intelligencer reports. The defendant, Anthony Diodoro, admitted that he viewed at least 30 images of child pornography, but argued he didn’t “possess” them as required for prosecution under the law.
A dissenter argued it wasn’t the court’s responsibility to rewrite the law. “If the legislature fails to keep up with modern technology, it is not our responsibility to correct its oversight," wrote Judge Richard Klein.