Court Error Abuse of Discretion.

• Date: 08 February 2022
• Author: Hawkins, Derek

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United Stats of America v. Thomas J. Owens

Case No.: 20-3189

Officials: FLAUM, KANNE, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Court Error Abuse of Discretion

It is criminal "distribut[ion]" of child pornography within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. 2252(a)(2) to knowingly make a file containing child pornography available for others to access and download via a peer-to-peer filesharing network. See United States v. Ryan, 885 F.3d 449, 453 (7th Cir. 2018). The government has developed an investigative practice where it employs a confidential software program to participate in the peer-to-peer network...