CA- Suicides Follow Porn Crackdown

5-28-2008 California:

Defendants who keep child pornography on their computers make tempting — and relatively easy — targets for federal prosecutors.

Few offenders elicit so little sympathy from all frequencies of the political spectrum. The cases are incredibly difficult to fight, according to defense lawyers: So long as the feds lawfully search the computer, stiff mandatory minimum sentences reduce plea bargaining leverage to nil.

The Justice Department has escalated its efforts since announcing Project Safe Childhood in 2006, filing 27 percent more indictments last year. Now, the psychological weight of child porn prosecutions — for family members, lawyers, judges and defendants themselves — is beginning to emerge.

In the Northern District of California alone, four child porn targets have committed suicide over the past nine months, according to government court filings in two separate cases. One additional defendant tried to kill himself in February, court records indicate.

"I'm not surprised the numbers are up, frankly," said San Francisco solo Miranda Kane, a former federal prosecutor who litigated and supervised child pornography cases for the government. "It's a devastating thing to be exposed, and you're publicly shamed. We would go to great effort to keep the victims' names out, but defendants' names are right there in the [San Francisco] Chronicle all the time."

The suicides are a pressing issue for magistrate judges, who must decide whether to remand defendants once they are arraigned. They add emotional baggage for defense lawyers, who already may not be enthusiastic about the subject matter they must delve into.

Prosecutors have been trying to share as much information about the suicides with judges as possible, U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said. Ultimately, he said, the courts must craft a solution.

"It's not our objective to destroy human lives," Russoniello said, "but it is our obligation to protect the most vulnerable in our society from exploitation."

Finally, the suicides present an overlay of grief for the defendants' family members, who already grapple with feelings of disbelief and betrayal following an indictment. ..For the rest of this excellent report.. by Dan Levine, The Reporter