Nowadays, child pornography laws are so strict everywhere that the law departments everywhere have had to come up with stricter definitions to make it harder for anyone to get away with anything even remotely associated to child pornography. After all these changes in Virginia, now child pornography covers a lot of ground. Any photographs, digital images, movies, videos and even sculptures that depict sexual activity of any kind and the person in question looks clearly like he or she is a minor, the piece of media comes under child pornography.
Any person living in the state of Virginia who owns any media that contains child pornography and knows that information then he or she can be convicted for this felony crime. Then there are those who are charged for copying or selling and distribution of such material, they can be sent to state prison for a time period ranging between 5 and 30 years. That is a hefty punishment in itself and that is not all, there are fines involved too and on top that the person will very likely be placed on the sex offender’s registry.
If an individual has been charged with this serious crime then it is imperative that they contact federal Virginia child pornography lawyer right away. This will ensure that the individual is informed of his or her rights in a timely fashion and might be able to get better assistance from his or lawyer to get a favorable sentence. There are many defenses that a child pornography defense lawyer can work on if the defendant is able to contact him or her on time and as soon as possible.
There are many reasons in present times due to which an innocent person can also be wrongly accused of such a crime. In that case it is even more important that they get hold of a great lawyer who knows how to deal with these matters professionally. If an innocent person is convicted wrongfully for such a crime it will potentially ruin his or her life because the sentences are so strict and then being placed on the sex offender’s registry for an indefinite period. That would make the individual a social piranha and pretty much end their life completely.
In many cases it is actually possible that someone else used the defendant’s computer or smartphone to share a video clip containing child pornography and the actual owner was completely unaware of the act. In a lot of cases the suspect is unaware of what the file actually contains that he or she is about to download online and it contains child pornography. These are two examples where the suspect was totally unaware of the real situation and was caught in it by accident or simply by being careless with their personal belongings. Sometimes, even though the likelihood of this happening are slim, but the suspect might not have been aware of the fact that the actors in the clip they just watched were actually underage. In all these cases a strong defense lawyer is going to be able to help the individual.