United States v. Sanchez

113 F. Supp. 3d 1254, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89477, 2015 WL 4138856
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedJuly 9, 2015
DocketCase No. 15-20076-CR
StatusPublished

This text of 113 F. Supp. 3d 1254 (United States v. Sanchez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Sanchez, 113 F. Supp. 3d 1254, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89477, 2015 WL 4138856 (S.D. Fla. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER OVERRULING DEFENDANT’S OBJECTION THAT HE SHOULD RECEIVE THE TWO-LEVEL REDUCTION UNDER UNITED . STATES SENTENCING GUIDELINE § 2G2.2(b)(l)

JOAN A. LENARD, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE is before the Court on Defendant Jefferson Sanchez’s (“Defendant”) First Objection to the Presentence Investigation Report, (“Objection,” D.E. 20),: filed .May 28, 2015. Therein, Defendant objected that the Probation Officer did not reduce his guideline calculation by two levels under United States Sentencing Guideline (“U.S.S.G.”) § 2G2.2(b)(1). (Id. ¶ 6.) The Government filed a Response on June 6, 2015 (“Response,” D.E. 24), to which Defendant filed a Reply on Juñe 16, 2015, (“Reply,” D.E. 30).' The Government filed a Second Response on June 26, 2015, (“Second Response,” D.E. 45). At a June 29, 2015 sentencing hearing, the Court orally ruled that Defendant was not entitled to the two-level reduction in Section 2G2.2(b)(l). (Transcript (6/29/15) at 41.)1 The Court’s oral ruling is. adopted, supplemented, and modified as follows.

I. Background

On February 12, 2015, a Grand, Jury returned a two-count Indictment charging Defendant with (i) receipt of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2) & (b)(1) (“Count 1”) and (ii) possession of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B) & (b)(2) (“Count 2”). (Indictment, D.E. 4 at 1-2.) On February 17, 2015, Plaintiff pled' not güilty to both charges. (See Arraignment Information Sheet, D.E. 7 at 1.) On April 8, 2015, Defendant entered into a Plea Agreement pursuant to which, he would plead guilty to Count 1 (receipt of child pornography) in exchange for the Government dismissing Count 2 (possession of child pornography). (Plea Agreement,: D.E. 14 at 1.)

On April 8, 2015, the Court held a Rule 11 change-of-plea hearing. (See D.E. 12.) During that. proceeding, the Court reviewed with Defendant the Plea Agreement and a Stipulated Factual Statement which Defendant signed and which states in ,its entirety: .

If this matter were to proceed to trial, the Government would prove the following beyond a reasonable doubt.
On January 29, 2015, a search warrant was executed at Jefferson Sanchez’s (hereinafter Defendant) residence, in the Southern District of Florida, after cy-ber-crimes agents from the Secret Service determined that a computer user in the residence was using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to make child pornography available and possess child pornography at the residerice. During the search, law enforcement seized a Samsung laptop computer.
Defendant was present when the search warrant waá executed, along with another individual who was staying in another room of the residence. Defendant resided in the master bedroom suite. The , laptop was found inside his closet covered by clothes and appeared broken and wet. Law enforcement then observed a water trail from the bathroom to the closet where the laptop was discovered.
After using a blow dryer, law enforcement conducted a forensic preview of [1256]*1256the laptop which revealed the ARES program was installed, that there were videos depicting child pornography on the laptop, including three that defendant received through a download using ARES on January 29, 2015. As an example, there was a 10 minute and 40 second (10:40) video which depicts several different prepubescent females performing oral sex with adult males. The video also depicts some of the adult males ejaculating into the mouths of the prepubescent females.
During an ensuing interview conducted in Spanish with Spanish-speaking law enforcement officers, Defendant waived his Miranda rights both verbally and in writing. According to law enforcement officers who were present, Defendant admitted that he had been downloading and viewing child pornography for the past few years using the ARES network, that he downloaded pornographic videos involving girls as young as five and six, and his preference was for videos involving ten to eleven year old girls. He stated when he downloaded the videos, he would keep them for a day or two and then delete them. He admitted he did it for his sexual gratification.
The combined evidence shows, and Defendant admits, he knowingly received files containing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct by downloading them from ARES over the internet, that he did so on or about January 29, 2015, and he knew that the files he downloaded on that date contained depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
This factual proffer is not intended as a complete recitation of the defendant’s activities in this case. It is submitted solely to provide a factual basis for the defendant’s guilty plea.

(D.E. 15 at 1-2.) After the Government read this statement at the Rule 11 hearing, Defendant stated that he agreed with it and had no corrections or deletions. (Transcript (4/8/15) at 15.)2 (Transcript [1257]*1257(4/8/15) at 13-16.) Defendant then pled guilty to Count 1. (Id. at 16.)

The Probation Officer submitted the Presentence Investigation Report (“PSR”) on May 18, 2015, followed by an Addendum on June 17, 2015. The Offense Level Computation assigned Defendant a Base Offense Level of 22 ■ and included, inter alia, a two-level increase pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(3)(F) “[because the offense involved distribution____” (PSR ¶¶22, 24.) Defendant objected to this enhancement on the grounds that “he-had no intention of distributing any materials and did not plea to distributing the materials.” (Addendum at 2.) He further requested a two-level reduction pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(l) “because he claims his conduct was limited to the receipt of material and he did not intend on trafficking in or distributing that material.” (Id. at 3.)

The sentencing hearing began on June 22, 2015. (See Minute Entry, D.E. 41.) On that date, the Court addressed Defendant’s objection to the two-level enhancement for distribution under Section 2G2.2(b)(3)(F). (Transcript (6/22/15) at 8-15.) Defense counsel argued that the two-level enhancement for distribution should not apply because Defendant pled guilty only to receipt of child pornography and that he “had no intention of sharing this information.” (Id. at 8.) He further argued that at the time of arrest he told law enforcement, that “he does not have the ability to share these files and-he doesn’t understand the full functioning of the Ares[3] download system.” (Id.) The Government argued that under United States v. Creel, 783 F.3d 1357, 1360 (11th Cir.2015), the sentencing enhancement for distribution of child pornography does not contain a mens rea element, so Defendant’s alleged lack of intent -or knowledge was irrelevant. (Id.

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Bluebook (online)
113 F. Supp. 3d 1254, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89477, 2015 WL 4138856, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sanchez-flsd-2015.