Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Possession of Child P0rnograpghy??

Two months ago my house was bombarded by 5 police officers from two counties and two detectives with a search warrant to take our computers (we have three). My son was questioned and the detective said he answered honestly. This is supposedly in regards to a girl he had (was?) dating who is 16 and he is 19. The detective has been dragging his feet and I was initially told by my attorney that the Prosecuting attorney said that the detective didn't have anything and was not authorizing the continuation of the case. The detective then decided to do a ''deep'' scan of the three computers. Mine turned up fine, but my two sons (15 & 18) did not. Suddenly they find something, but still have not done anything about it. Those computers were used by themselves, their friends and my niece (who loves to post herself on myspace). My question is, how long can they hold of charging and what is a reasonable amount of time for us to expect anything? My son has not been charged (and I hope never is). He dated this girl when they were 15 & 17 with her parents permission and approval. Her parents supposedly ''recorded'' a video conversation they had on line that was sexual in nature (16 & 18) but turned him in for producing child porn. Help!


Asked on 4/28/07, 10:54 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Neil O'Brien Eaton County Special Assistant Prosecuting Attorney

Re: Possession of Child P0rnograpghy??

1. The prosecutor has 6 years after a crime date to issue a charge. This is the general statute of limitations in most criminal cases.

2. There is a difference under Michigan law between the "age of consent" for sexual activity (16 years old) and the ages that are protected from "child sexually abusive activity" (under 18 years old). A 16 year old can consent to have sex, but if someone takes pictures or videos of a 16 or 17 year old engaged in sexual activity that is defined in MCL 750.145c. (You can read this statute at www.michiganlegislature.org). It includes erotic fondling, erotic nudity, maturbation, passive sexual involvement, sexual intercourse, sexual excitement, etc. (The statute does not say "pornography", because that term is hard to define. It talks, instead about other specific activities.)

So, the bottom line is that if she was 16 or 17 years old and being photographed, videotaped, or broadcast on the internet with any of these activities going on, the police and prosecutor may have a good basis to investigate and/or charge someone.

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Answered on 5/07/07, 10:20 am
Regina Mullen Legal Data Services, PLC

Re: Possession of Child P0rnograpghy??

This is why you should have told your son to find someone his own age: obviously, her parents were not thrilled with this relationship.

This is a mess you need an attorney to sort out. They can wait a long time to charge him, so your best bet is to try to negotiate so that the charges go away.

She is a child, the conversation was pornographic, but that's not necessarily child porn.

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Answered on 4/29/07, 7:56 pm


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