United States v. Agustin Hernandez

795 F.3d 1159, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13486, 2015 WL 4604337
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 3, 2015
Docket12-50585
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 795 F.3d 1159 (United States v. Agustin Hernandez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Agustin Hernandez, 795 F.3d 1159, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13486, 2015 WL 4604337 (9th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Agustín Camarena Hernandez used a peer-to-peer file-sharing network to share and download child pornography. Hernandez shared some of his child pornography with two undercover FBI Special Agents. After agents searched Hernandez’s residence and confiscated his computer, they discovered over 11,000 videos and images of child pornography. Many involved girls under the age of twelve, and some as young as nine months old.

Hernandez pled guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography. He was thereafter convicted in a bench trial of two counts of distribution of child pornography. The district court sentenced Hernandez to 262 months in prison and lifetime supervised release. On appeal, Hernandez challenges his sentence. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a). We affirm in almost all respects.

I. Background

Hernandez amassed a large collection of over 11,000 child pornography videos and images, some of which he shared using a GigaTribe account. GigaTribe is a peer-to-peer file-sharing network that enables its users to share digital files (image, video, or audio) with other users via the Internet. Under GigaTribe’s default setting, a user’s files are not available to others. To make files available, a GigaTribe user must affirmatively designate certain folders on his computer as “shared” or “non-shared.” A GigaTribe user controls access to “shared” files by inviting other users to join his network of “friends,” or by accepting “friend” requests.

Hernandez’s GigaTribe username was “pthcforyou,” which stood for “preteen hardcore for you.” Using his account, Hernandez downloaded video and image files of child pornography and made these files available to his GigaTribe friends in a folder designated for sharing. Hernandez understood that the videos and images he intentionally downloaded into his shared folder would be available for viewing and downloading by other users.

Using his “pthcforyou” username, Hernandez “friended” two GigaTribe users who were, in fact, undercover FBI Special Agents. On December 13, 2009, a San Diego FBI Agent accepted Hernandez’s friend request. The next day, the agent searched Hernandez’s folder and saw files that appeared to contain child pornography. The agent downloaded 1 video and 36 images of suspected child pornography. Two of the images showed girls who were at most eight years old engaged in sexual conduct.

While the agent was downloading these files, Hernandez sent him a message to complain that the agent was “leeching” him by accessing his files and not providing files in return:

pthcforyou: hi
pthcforyou: Bell!! pthcforyou: hi
pthcforyou: Bell!!
[Agent]: hi
pthcforyou: hey man were is ur files
[Agent]: sorry about that I try to keep leechers out ... will post some now
pthcforyou: thx ur leeching me a lot

On October 13, 2010, an undercover FBI Special Agent in Phoenix “friended” Hernandez. The Phoenix agent downloaded 44 image files x from Hernandez’s shared folder. These images included three de *1163 picting girls under the age of about eight engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including oral sex and vaginal/anal penetration.

On February 8, 2011, agents searched Hernandez’s residence and recovered a laptop computer and an external hard drive. In an interview conducted on the day of the search, Hernandez admitted that he used GigaTribe and that his user-name was “pthcforyou,” that he owned and exclusively used the laptop, that he downloaded child pornography, and that child pornography would be found on his laptop. Forensic analysis of the computer and external hard drive showed that Hernandez possessed over 11,000 videos and images of child pornography. Many of these videos and images involved girls under the age of twelve, and some as young as nine months old.

The United States charged Hernandez with two counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of distribution of child pornography. Hernandez pled guilty to both possession counts. In a bench trial on the distribution charges, Hernandez contended that use of peer-to-peer networks to share child pornography did not satisfy the “distribution” requirement of the statute. See 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2)(A) (“[a]ny person who ... knowingly receives or distributes ... any child pornography” shall be fined and imprisoned not less than five years and not more than twenty years). Relying on Hernandez’s “affirmative actions in installing, inviting and accepting GigaTribe users to his computer and allowing them to download child pornography from his ‘shared’ folder,” the district court stated that it had “little difficulty in concluding that [Hernandez] distributed child pornography in the sense of having ‘delivered,’ ‘transferred,’ ‘dispersed,’ or ‘dispensed’ it to others.” The district court sentenced Hernandez to 262 months in prison and lifetime supervised release.

On appeal, Hernandez challenges only his sentence.

II. Standard of Review

“Only a procedurally erroneous or substantively unreasonable sentence will be set aside.” United States v. Henderson, 649 F.3d 955, 958 (9th Cir.2011). We “review the district court’s interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines de novo, its application of the Guidelines to the facts for abuse of discretion, and its factual findings for clear error.” Id. “Assuming that the district court’s sentencing decision is procedurally sound, we then consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence imposed under an abuse-of-discretion standard.” Id.

III. Discussion

Hernandez argues that the district court should not have applied the five-level sentencing enhancement applicable to offenders who distribute child pornography “for the receipt, or expectation of receipt, of a thing of value.” U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(3)(B). Hernandez further argues that the district court made a number of procedural errors; that, as a substantive matter, his sentence was too long; and that his written sentence should be amended to conform to the sentence pronounced orally. Finally, he asks, in the event of a remand for resentencing, that we reassign to a different district judge.

A. “Expectation” Under U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(3)(B)

Hernandez was convicted of distribution of child pornography in violation of § 2252A(a)(2)(A). A defendant convicted under this provision is eligible for a sentencing enhancement under § 2G2.2(b)(3) of the Sentencing Guidelines. Section *1164

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795 F.3d 1159, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13486, 2015 WL 4604337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-agustin-hernandez-ca9-2015.