Television and Radio
Minnesota Public Radio - Challenges lie ahead in child pornography lawsuits - May 27, 2010
New York attorney James Marsh pushed for a law Congress passed in 2006 that increased penalties for child pornography criminals and made it easier for victims to sue. Anderson filed the lawsuit under Masha's Law, named after one of Marsh's clients -- a girl adopted from Russia by a man in the U.S. who turned out to be a pedophile.
But Marsh himself has only used civil litigation on a limited basis, choosing instead to put pressure on federal prosecutors to seek restitution for victims in criminal cases.
Marsh said there are two main reasons lawsuits in child porn cases can be difficult. First, attorneys must file separate lawsuits if they want to go after all the people accused of distributing or viewing the image. Those suits need to be filed wherever the accused live, and when the Internet is involved, that could be anywhere.
Second, if the lawsuit is being filed on behalf of a minor, special court procedures are needed to establish a guardian for the child. Doing that in hundreds of cases in multiple states can be costly and time-consuming.
Marsh said just filing lawsuits against the 1,000 people who victimized one of his clients would have cost an estimated $450,000, not to mention other costs such as seeking permission to lawyer in another state or hiring other attorneys to help out. Marsh was able to settle the case instead.
"We don't have the structure in place in the federal courts to deal with this kind of issue and this kind of victimization," he said.
WBUR's Hear and Now - Restitution For Victims Of Child Porn - February 23, 2010
Federal judges are now being asked to consider whether someone convicted of possessing child porn should pay restitution to the children in those images. “Amy,” as she’s known in court papers, is now 20; but when she was 8 or 9 her uncle took pictures of her that are among the most circulated child porn images. She’s using the Crime Victims Rights Act of 2004 to win millions of dollars in court-ordered damages from people who use those abusive images of her. We speak with Amy’s attorney, James Marsh, and Jonathan Shapiro, who is defending a man who has been ordered to pay restitution to her.
KDSK Channel 5 St. Louis - Child porn suspects pay restitution to victims - February 12, 2010
James Marsh is an attorney who represents "Amy," a woman who was sexually assaulted by her uncle starting when she was four years old.
Marsh says "Amy," pictured in the infamous "Misty Series" of child porn images, is victimized every time images of her are downloaded into a computer. Marsh says "Amy" has received more than 800 notifications from federal prosecutors that her images have been found on computers seized in child porn investigations. In some of those cases, Marsh has sued for restitution, and "Amy" is getting paid.
Marsh says money may never heal his client, but the money will help cover the costs of therapy for the woman, who is so traumatized to this day she cannot go to school or hold a job. In a victim's statement filed in federal court, another victim, from another series of photos, called the "Vicky Series," says some of the viewers of her images have tried to contact her over the years. The woman adds that she is fearful that someday, a man on the street might recognize her from the computer images.
Russia Today - September 27, 2006 - Commentary on the Congressional Hearing relating to Masha Allen's adoption
Nancy Grace - January 18, 2006 - Background and commentary on Masha Allen
Also joining us, James Marsh. This is Masha`s attorney. James...
JAMES MARSH, MASHA`S ATTORNEY: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: Hi, friend. What are we going to do about this adoption agency that helped facilitate Masha coming from Russia, straight into the hands of an American pedophile?
MARSH: Well, I guess, unfortunately, or fortunately for Masha, we have a lot of potential defendants in this case, because it wasn`t just one adoption agency that helped facilitate this. There were many cooperating agencies involved. This was the agency that did the home study. There`s the agency that...
GRACE: Or the lack thereof.
MARSH: Or the lack thereof, what I called the promotional piece for Mr. Mancuso.
GRACE: Any idiot could see there was one bedroom and one father and no mom.
MARSH: Well, I think what we`ve seen in this case is that -- you know, we talked to law enforcement. And what really led to Masha`s rescue was a gut feeling that something was wrong here. And what we didn`t have in the adoption context was any gut feeling...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Are you suing? Are you suing?
MARSH: We are suing, absolutely.
GRACE: Who are you suing?
MARSH: We are suing the agency that did the home study. And we`re still trying to sort out which agency was responsible for the placement. We have two names. They`re pointing the fingers at each other.
GRACE: That`s right.
MARSH: And we`re going to get to the bottom of this for Masha.
CourtTV - June 13, 2002 - Background and commentary on Danielle van Dam murder case
CNN - October 19, 1999 - Background and commentary on the state of the nation's foster care system
CNN - October 14, 1999 - Background and commentary on the threat of 100 foster parents of District of Columbia children to return them because the District's child welfare system was several months and millions of dollars behind in payments to day-care providers
The O’Reilly Factor - July 1999 - Commentary on child killer Marie Noe
Newspapers, Magazines, and Online Features
The New York Times - Court Rejects Restitution for Victim in Porn Case - September 8, 2011
A victim of child pornography seeking restitution should not receive court-ordered payments from those who possessed the images but had no hand in creating them, a federal appeals panel ruled Thursday. The young woman, referred to in court papers as Amy, was known as “Misty” in pornographic images created by her uncle. The uncle was convicted and imprisoned on child pornography charges, but the images continue to be widely circulated and downloaded.
Since then, Amy’s lawyers have entered pleas in hundreds of child pornography possession cases around the country seeking payment for their client’s lost wages and counseling through federal criminal restitution statutes, asking for more than $3 million in each case. They have submitted nearly 700 of these pleas, and have recovered $345,000 so far.
The Second Circuit decision may be the toughest of several recent rulings in cases involving Amy; a decision out of the 11th Circuit upheld the restitution award, while others have denied payment.
Paul G. Cassell, a former federal judge and Utah law professor who has joined Amy’s legal team for appellate argument, said that with federal circuits divided, “we are hoping the Supreme Court will step in to resolve the issue and enforce the law as we think it was written — and not impose this impossible burden on crime victims to trace out to each and every defendant what exact percentage of the law was attributable to them.”
The Times Leader - Battle against ’net child porn sees new front - May 15, 2011
Hepburn and James Marsh, a New York attorney who represents a victim in another popular child pornography collection, known as the “Misty” series, have filed dozens of requests for restitution against child pornography defendants nationwide, including several defendants who were prosecuted in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
In December, U.S. District Judge John Jones ruled that the victim in the “Misty” series, who was sexually abused by an uncle at age 8, was entitled to restitution from Michael Brown of Lebanon County. In March, U.S. District Judge Christopher Connor also ordered Ronald Barkley of Harrisburg to pay damages to the “Misty” victim.
Federal judges in other states have split on the issue. The “Misty” victim has sought restitution in 22 cases nationwide, according to court papers filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brown’s case. Of those, 15 have been granted and seven have been denied.
In both the “Vicky” and “Misty” cases, Hepburn and Marsh have sought damages for the emotional trauma, as well as the cost of past and future counseling and lost wages the women have suffered due to their difficulties in overcoming the trauma to establish a normal life. The amount of the awards has varied greatly, from nominal amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Use of restitution law on behalf of sex abuse victims raises philosophical questions - May 4, 2011
Aggressively seeking restitution from people who've only viewed child porn but haven't produced or distributed it is a tactic that Warren Richey, writing in The Christian Science Monitor, credited to Amy's lawyer, James Marsh of White Plains, N.Y.
The strategy has split the federal courts, so the litigation will end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The BLT: The Blog of LegalTimes - D.C. Circuit: Child Pornography Victim Owed More Restitution - April 19, 2011
A victim in a child pornography case who is seeking nearly $3.3 million in restitution from the man caught with an image of her will get a second chance to try to convince a federal trial judge in Washington to award more than the $5,000 in compensation that was initially ordered.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today vacated the trial judge’s “nominal” $5,000 restitution award and sent the case back to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for further proceedings.
Cassell, a lawyer for the victim, said this afternoon that the D.C. Circuit decision widens the divide among federal appellate courts over issues concerning the rights of crime victims. Among other things, Cassell said the decision places an "impossible burden" on crime victims and federal trial judges to sort out the cause of a victim's harm.
Washington Post - Appeals court ruling in Texas case could ease path for child porn victims to get restitution - March 25, 2011
HOUSTON — Victims of child pornography around the country could have an easier time getting restitution from those convicted of possessing such images, according to a federal appeals court ruling this week in a Texas case.
But legal experts say the issue now may have to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court because courts throughout the United States are split on how to award such compensation.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that federal restitution law doesn’t generally require victims to specifically detail how an individual defendant has harmed them in order to receive restitution.
“It’s a big deal,” Jeff Bellin, a law professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said of the 5th Circuit’s ruling. “This is clearly the most significant victory that proponents of this type of interpretation (of restitution law) have had in the courts so far.”
If victims like Amy had to specifically detail all the losses they have suffered as a result of individuals like Paroline, “they would basically get nothing,” said Paul Cassell, one of Amy’s attorneys.
Cassell, who also is a law professor at the University of Utah, said individuals like Paroline harm victims simply by viewing images of them.
“It’s psychiatric death by a thousand cuts because she is being harmed over and over again by these faceless, nameless criminals who are looking at these images over and over again,” Cassell said.
Cassell said about a third of the $3.4 million Amy is asking for, which is paying for lifetime counseling costs and lost income, has already been recovered from other claims around the country.
National Law Journal - Porn victims demanding restitution - February 7, 2011
The attorneys for the victim in the Washington case, solo practitioner James Marsh of White Plains, N.Y., and Paul Cassell, a former federal judge who teaches at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, are pressing forward with an appeal in Washington challenging Kessler's restitution order issued last month. The lawyers filed two appeals on Jan. 25 in the D.C. Circuit — one a direct challenge of Kessler's order and the other asking the appeals court to order the trial judge to award the full amount of restitution.
Calling the case's legal issues complex and novel, judges Douglas Ginsburg, Judith Rogers and Thomas Griffith agreed to expedite the litigation. The court is scheduled to hear the closely watched dispute on Feb. 7. "The D.C. Circuit has the opportunity here to really frame the law and issue a precedent-setting ruling on how much restitution victims like Amy should get," Cassell said. "The law is clear that district judges have to award restitution. There's been a real split of opinion on whether victims like Amy should get the whole figure."
Cassell said it's unlikely Monzel has the means to cut a check for the full amount of restitution. But, Cassell said, when Monzel is released from custody in a decade and enters the work force, every dollar he pays to the victim will add up.
"This isn't really about the money," Cassell said. "This is about the principle of protecting the rights of crime victims."
Dallas Morning News - Texas inmate is part of growing child porn trend that has ruined lives - November 29, 2010
By mid-2009, prosecutors noted, 62 original photos of that woman's abuse had metastasized online. More than 8,800 versions had surfaced in criminal investigations. The woman's lawyer, James Marsh of New York City, calls those numbers low; versions have recently been tracked to 40,000 Internet addresses involved in peer-to-peer file-sharing.
MSNBC.com - More trouble for Amazon, this time with photos - Amazon sells books and videos containing images of children in possible sexual situations - November 11, 2010
"What the law has upheld is that nudity alone is not enough to prove that something is child pornography," said lawyer James Marsh, one of Flatley's teammates in the fight for Masha's Law. Marsh represents victims in child pornography cases and blogs about these issues at childlaw.us.
Amazon would never have sold material like the pornographic photos of Masha; however, as Marsh pointed out to me, the site currently lists a lascivious "true crime" book, for sale by four used-bookstore partners, about Masha's case, written by Peter Sotos, a man who once pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge.
Listing a book and selling pictures and videos are clearly separate acts, as is the difference between a simple baby picture and true child pornography. What people now want to know is this: Where does the line get drawn? And who gets to draw that line?
"There's a real disconnect on what the true nature of child porn is," Marsh said. "99.9999 percent of the material I deal with features pre-pubescent children being raped … the most graphic hardcore images you can imagine. People think downloading a picture of a baby in a bathtub is going to send them to prison. That's not what we're talking about."
But there is a fine line. When it comes to young girls in swimsuits, Marsh mentioned the case of a child model group in Florida that was successfully shut down, because despite the lack of sexual abuse in the imagery, the photos focused on sexual aspects of the children. "There are complicated legal tests that courts need to engage in to determine what is or isn't legal," he explained.
And what about the nudist videos? "We do see a big overlap between the child molesters and the so-called naturists. We have at least a couple of documented cases of public naturist advocates actually adopting and sexually abusing children for the purposes of child pornography." He cites the '"notorious" case of William Peckenpaugh, a naturist in Washington state who adopted an orphan boy from Romania and abused him sexually, distributing images of him online. He also says that people in Eastern European countries, Belarus and Ukraine in particular, are known to distribute child pornography, using children who may be "rented" from the countries' impoverished orphanages.
But Marsh also suggests, only half in jest, that maybe some of this is a government front to entrap pedophiles. "How those videos have managed to survive in circulation for years? Careful editing or a government front. Could be either, or both."
As for Amazon — and Facebook, another current target of Marsh's activism — he says free speech should not be the defense. "It's not about First Amendment rights," said Marsh. "It's about what material a good corporate citizen should be making available to the public. And that's the kind of decision Amazon should be making."
The Register - Child porn victims seek multimillion-dollar payouts - November 2, 2010
“Each and every redistribution of the images causes a distinct injury to the victim,” Marsh told The Register. “It's a very deliberate act that they choose when they go seek images of my client out.”
Marsh and other child victim advocates argue that the requirement to prove the convicted person proximately caused the damages, applies only to this last catchall item. The other losses need only be established by a preponderance of the evidence, which is almost always satisfied by a conviction that includes one or more images of the victim.
FOXNews.com - EXCLUSIVE: Pedophiles Find a Home for Social Networking -- on Facebook - September 28, 2010
James Marsh, an attorney who represents victims of child sexual exploitation, says Facebook must do more than just what is required by law.
“Facebook has a moral and public duty to monitor and stop this activity on their site. Hiding behind legal technicalities is not enough to be a good corporate citizen in the digital age,” Marsh said. “Facebook needs to put children ahead of profits and do what Congress and the American people expect -- protect our kids from criminals like NAMBLA.”
Hemanshu Nigam, co-chairman of President Obama's Online Safety Technology Working Group and a member of the board of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, agrees.
“Every company has the ability to disable certain sites from being linked to, and Facebook can make a very simple decision to not allow people from Facebook from linking to NAMBLA.org,” Nigam said.
Courier-Post - Child porn victims heard - August 23, 2010
But New York attorney James Marsh notes one of his clients, a young woman known only as Amy, has provided a statement "in well over 500 criminal cases."
The statement "not only expresses the often-devastating effect of a crime on a victim, but in cases like child pornography -- where the victims are young and all but invisible to the court -- (it) really empowers a victim like Amy in what is otherwise seen as a so-called victimless crime."
Amy's words, written at age 19, recount a life scarred by a family member's sexual abuse starting when she was 4. That experience "destroyed the normal childhood, teenage years and early adulthood that every one deserves," Amy said in a four-page account.
"Every day of my life I live in constant fear that someone will see my pictures and recognize me and that I will be humiliated all over again.
"It hurts me to know someone is looking at them -- at me -- when I was just a little girl being abused for the camera."
New York Law Journal - Online Viewer of Child Pornography Ordered to Pay Restitution to the Victim - August 11, 2010
A man caught with pornographic images of a girl being sexually abused by her uncle has been ordered to pay restitution of nearly $50,000 to the victim, even though the defendant was a viewer of illegal images collected from the Internet who has never met the uncle or the girl.
Northern District of New York Judge Gary L. Sharpe decided that a mere "consumer" of child pornography is culpable to some degree for the emotional and psychological damage suffered by sex abuse victims under 18 U.S.C. §2259(b)(1), which allows awarding compensation for the "care required to address the long term effects of their [victims'] abuse."
While federal courts, including those in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, have upheld restitution in instances where contact between children and their abusers provided the requisite causation under U.S.C. §2259, a "more difficult question" for federal courts has been in cases involving the absence of direct causation between a victim's injuries and a pornographer's actions, Sharpe ruled in United States v. Aumais, 08-cr-711
Before sentencing, the U.S. government sought restitution for Amy, a request that was joined by her attorney, James R. Marsh.
Marsh said authorities have now interceded in more than 500 cases seeking restitution for Amy. Under the federal Crime Victims' Rights Act of 2004, government prosecutors in most cases must pursue restitution claims if children who are victims of sex crimes request they do so.
"We're very happy with this decision," Marsh said Tuesday. "The magistrate judge made a very well-reasoned analysis of the proximate cause issue. We were disappointed about his finding on the future wages issue."
Told of Primomo's plan to appeal, Marsh, who has expanded his New York firm to deal with child pornography restitution cases, said he welcomed the appeal.
Orlando Sentinel - Prosecutors pursue restitution for child-exploitation victims - June 29, 2010
But not everyone agrees on exactly who should be ordered to pay restitution: Should it be limited to the person who produced the pornography, or should people who possess the images be required to pay?
New York attorney James R. Marsh thinks it should be both. He represents a woman, now 21, who goes publicly by the pseudonym "Amy." She is the subject in one of the most actively traded child-pornography series, known as the "Misty series." Amy was 8 years old when she was victimized.
Marsh has made more than 400 requests for restitution for his client since September 2008.
Marsh hired experts ranging from a psychologist to a forensic economist, who put a price tag on the impact the pornography made on Amy. It includes past and future lost wages and future therapy expenses, but does not account for such factors as pain and suffering or emotional damages, he said.
The expert calculation: nearly $3.4 million. That's a global figure, meaning once Amy has received that amount from the combination of all cases, she will stop seeking restitution.
So far, Amy has received about $236,100 from 10 defendants, he said.
Marsh has made multiple requests with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida for restitution for his client. But the office has taken the position that Amy isn't eligible, he said.
Some people, such as Marsh, think child-pornography victims are harmed by both the producers and possessors.
"The victimization of my client goes on because the demand for these images are so great. Because the demand for these images are so great, she will continue to be victimized endlessly," he said.
The Daily Progress - Victims of child porn seeking restitution - May 31, 2010
A victim from rural Pennsylvania who goes by the pseudonym “Amy,” for example, has received $231,102.28 from nine defendants so far, said her attorney, James M. Marsh. The money is paying for therapy for Amy, now 20, who lives with her parents and is on public assistance.
The attorney said his client is hoping to buy a house with some of the money, which would be a step forward for her. Seeking restitution has helped Amy become stronger, Marsh said.
“She really feels empowered by what is happening and that she is no longer a victim,” Marsh said. “She is someone who has really taken control of her life.”
Amy, whose uncle abused her on camera between ages 4 and 9, is depicted in the widely distributed “Misty series.” She is represented by New York-based defense lawyer Marsh, who receives e-mail notifications when his client’s images are involved in a criminal case. Marsh said he and Amy initially focused on filing civil lawsuits, but one criminal case led them into a different direction. Seeking money for his client will help her cover therapy costs and pay for her living expenses because he says she is too distressed to work.
Marsh said Amy first opted to seek restitution against Alan Hesketh, a British citizen and former vice president of a pharmaceutical company in New York.
“The basic reason we chose restitution is because Hesketh was a foreign national,” Marsh said. “We had information that most of his assets were overseas. We knew a civil case would take two to three years, so by the time the court would levy any sort of judgment on him, his assets would be out of our reach.”
Marsh said he is seeking about $3.3 million in total for his client under the Mandatory Restitution for Sex crimes section of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. The attorney is asking for the money under the concept of “joint and several liability,” which means each person who has been ordered restitution is liable for up to the total amount.
“Once we reach the amount we’ve been requesting, we will no longer be pursuing restitution and we’d no longer be able to pursue restitution,” Marsh said.
Marsh said he has filed 400 restitution requests in the last year and is monitoring about 1,000 cases.
“We are carefully picking and choosing the kinds of cases that we’re seriously pursuing,” Marsh said.
Marsh said he has discovered that federal judges rarely handle crimes involving individual victims of violent sex crimes and most haven’t seen the evidence — the images themselves — in child pornography cases. The attorney has experts available to testify and a restitution request packet that he sends to assistant U.S. attorneys that explains the request and the law.
“The packet we send tries to do both of those things — educate the judges about restitution and what it means to receive restitution. It’s a fairly significant effort,” Marsh said.
Marsh said both Wisconsin and Arizona have provided notice to his client about her images being involved in criminal cases there. While the lawyer said he is following cases in both states, none of the cases has concluded and Marsh still is trying to figure out the dynamics of the law.
Associated Press - Minn. lawyer aims to track, sue child porn users - May 26, 2010
James Marsh, an attorney who represented the young woman for which Masha's Law was named, said few lawsuits have been filed under it partly because few child pornography victims come forward. Also, jurisdictional issues can pose a problem. But he said Anderson's approach is novel.
"The real key to success here will be his ability to join all of these matters in Minnesota. If he can't do that, it will be a nightmare of epic proportions," Marsh said. "There are a lot of barriers to a successful litigation, but we definitely wish him good luck."
FOXNews.com - Despite Content Purge, Pornographic Images Remain on Wikimedia - May 10, 2010
“Clearly some of the currently available drawings are obscene, and individuals have been prosecuted for downloading and possessing similar material,” said James Marsh, an attorney who represents victims of child sexual exploitation.
The FBI has not commented on whether it's pursuing charges. But it could, said Marsh, who pointed to several legal precedents in which prosecutions have been made based on sexually explicit depictions of children similar to the images on Wikipedia.
“Wikipedia has an undisputable affirmative corporate responsibility to keep such material off their sites, which are almost universally available in elementary schools and public libraries,” he said. “Every other content provider has to play by these rules. Why not Wikipedia?”
Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin - Courageous - Internet - April 29, 2010
Die Briefe kommen jeden Tag, manchmal sind es mehrere auf einmal. Seit einem Jahr beantwortet Amys Anwalt die Benachrichtigungen mit einer Standardklage.
Rund 375 solcher Schreiben hat er an Gerichte überall in den USA geschickt. Als Grundlage dient eine dreiseitige Aussage, die Amy für ihren ersten Prozess verfasst hat. »Es ist schwer zu beschreiben, wie es sich anfühlt zu wissen, dass jeden Tag irgendwo jemand Bilder davon anschaut, wie ich als kleines Mädchen von meinem Onkel missbraucht werde«, schreibt sie. »Es ist so, als ob ich wieder und wieder missbraucht werde.« Sie schreibt über ihre Angst, dass Freunde und Fremde ihre Bilder im Internet entdecken könnten. Und über die Horrorvorstellung, dass andere Pädophile Kinder mithilfe ihrer Bilder missbrauchen könnten. »Werden andere Mädchen mich sehen und denken, es sei okay, dasselbe zu tun?«, fragt sie.
Als Erstes verklagte Amy im September 2008 den Vizechef des Medikamentenkonzerns Pfizer, Alan Hesketh. Der Manager wurde beschuldigt, 2000 kinderpornografische Bilder besessen und verteilt zu haben, darunter drei Fotos von Amy. Unter dem Namen »Suzybibaby« hatte er in einem Google-Chat Kinderpornos ausgetauscht und dabei über den Duft von Babyfäkalien fantasiert. Bei seiner Verurteilung trafen sich die beiden im Gerichtssaal, das missbrauchte Mädchen und der Mann, der sich am Missbrauch erregt hatte. Der Prozess endete mit einer Haftstrafe von sechseinhalb Jahren für Hesketh - und mit Schadensersatz für Amy.
Ihr Anwalt argumentierte, Hesketh habe Amy durch das Anschauen der Bilder Schaden zugefügt, er sei also ein Täter und sie sein Opfer.
FOXNews.com - Wikipedia Distributing Child Porn, Co-Founder Tells FBI - April 27, 2010
But the threat is even greater than the images themselves, says James Marsh, an attorney who wrote about Sanger’s letter to the FBI on his Child Law Blog.
"Wikipedia’s continued interest in child sexual exploitation is troubling not only because the site hosts some questionable images, but because it can easily serve as a gateway to other sites containing child pornography," Marsh told FoxNews.com.
"One simple link buried in the text of an article on Japanese anime or child pornography could easily take an unsuspecting child or adult user to a place which is not only disturbing, but illegal.”
"The real issue for Wikipedia and sites like it is who is monitoring the content? Who is accountable? And who exactly is responsible? Anonymous editors and contributors and a complete lack of transparency presents a real risk of uncensored content being distributed worldwide."
Marsh thinks things are more serious than Sanger suggests.
“As Wikipedia becomes an authoritative source in law, politics and news, it makes a great target and medium for people with all kinds of questionable agendas,” he said.
“Wikipedia is like the Wizard of Oz. You never know exactly who is standing behind that green curtain. And that’s the real risk here.”
Virginia Lawyers Weekly - Courts develop ways to aid victims of child porn - April 19, 2010
A Charlottesville federal judge has joined courts in Texas and Maine in setting a high hurdle for victims of child pornography seeking restitution from defendants convicted of receiving or possessing images of the victims’ abuse. It’s the latest development in the restitution trend, which may be spreading to Virginia state courts.
The award of only $100 by U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon this month represents a departure from the more liberal approach of most federal courts addressing the novel practice of forcing child pornography “end users” to pay restitution to victims portrayed in the illicit images.
James R. Marsh of New York, Amy’s lawyer in her effort to collect restitution, offered a strongly worded reaction. “I am amazed and disappointed by the extent some of America's brightest legal minds will go to thwart the will of Congress and the American people by denying a mandatory legal remedy to victims of child pornography,” Marsh wrote in an e-mail. “While convicted pedophiles enjoy the comfort of federal country club prisons paid for by the taxpayers, the child victims of this terrible crime experience a lifetime of pain and suffering with the courthouse door effectively barred to their claims.”
“The legal system needs to start focusing more on the needs of child victims and less on esoteric legal technicalities which allow convicted pedophiles to avoid the damage they cause children and our communities,” Marsh wrote.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - 'Amy' seeks restitution from viewers of sex abuse - April 11, 2010
As of last week, the woman known as "Amy" in every federal district court across the country had received almost 1,000 notices that she had been identified as the victim of a crime.
Now, at age 20, she has filed requests in nearly 400 criminal cases asking that she receive restitution from any defendant convicted of viewing those pictures.
The idea of restitution is to make crime victims whole. But in Amy's cases, the question is whether the act of simply "possessing," or looking, at the illegal, pornographic images in which she appeared is directly responsible for the harm she has suffered and will continue to suffer in the future.
Mr. Marsh -- and most federal prosecutors --agree that it is.
"It's about good law in the area," Mr. Marsh said. "We're taking a cautious approach."
Mr. Marsh added, by filing for restitution in these cases, his client is beginning to feel empowered.
"Through the restitution, she feels she's going from a victim to someone who's taking control of her life."
Still, she doesn't make much in the way of long-term plans.
"Most of her life is spent coping day to day," Mr. Marsh said.
Among those who have been made to pay are a former law enforcement officer and a man who worked in a lumber yard, Mr. Marsh said.
Under the requests for restitution, once Amy receives the entire $3.2 million she is asking for, she would no longer file any new claims. For his part, Mr. Marsh is only being paid an average of about $3,500 per claim filed.
It's not a windfall, Mr. Marsh said. For Amy, who has no health insurance and is living on public assistance, restitution will be simply a means of compensating her for her inability to work at a full-time, professional job because of the harm done to her, he said.
"You have millionaires going to prison, and taxpayers funding their treatment. And then you have the victims with zero," Mr. Marsh said. "The social costs here are huge on both sides of the equation, and this is really just a way of equalizing the treatment of victims in the criminal justice system."
Minneapolis City Pages - Brandon Anthony Buchanan paying $1,000 porn restitution - April 6, 2010
Her lawyer, James Marsh, has gone after 400 similar cases in which Amy's photos were found in someone's possession. He sought $3.4 million restitution in this case, but the actual amount was agreed to by Marsh, prosecutors, the judge, and the defense attorney. Marsh has been going after individual possessors of child porn to set precedent that not just the creator and distributor of the child porn is to blame for a victim's suffering. He's out to prove that each person who views an image of a victim has caused additional harm.
"Restitution cases like Buchanan are empowering to my client who has gone from a nameless invisible victim to someone who is personally holding criminals responsible for violating her privacy and dignity," Marsh says. "We feel strongly that every defendant should be required to pay something in restitution to the victims of this terrible crime."
Marsh applauded the voluntary agreement in the case for eliminating possible litigation and additional burden on the government to make a statement in the case.
Star Tribune - Possessor of child porn to pay $1,000 in restitution - April 5, 2010
It is the principle -- not the amount -- that was important in Buchanan's case, said James Marsh, Amy's attorney. Buchanan's case, one of more than 400 in which Marsh has asked for restitution around the country, is a sign that more courts accept the idea that possessing even a single child porn photo does measurable harm to victims.
"We applaud the judge for what he's done," Marsh said Monday.
Aftenposten - Ofre får erstatning for nettovergrep - March 11, 2010
Ni år gammel var «Amy» onkelens sexslave. Bildene er spredd via Internett. Hun er det første offeret som har fått erstatning fra dem som er dømt for å laste ned overgrepsbildene.
Advokaten James R. Marsh driver et lite advokatfirma i New York. Han er i ferd med å revolusjonere erstatningsretten rundt overgrepsbilder i USA.
Hittil har han fått domstoler med på å kreve at de som er dømt for å laste ned overgrepsbilder av barn må betale erstatning til offeret, selv om de aldri har deltatt i handlingene som er filmet.
«Amy» er som den første tilkjent 3,4 millioner dollar (17 millioner kroner) i erstatning for de skadene hun er påført.
Hun har fått inn mer enn 230000 dollar hittil. I saker der «the Misty series», som hun kalles på nettet, dukker opp og det faller dom, er Marsh på plass og krever erstatning på hennes vegne. Hittil har det skjedd i 350 saker som behandles av domstolene.
Texas Lawyer - Case Highlights Problems for Child-Porn Victims Seeking Restitution - February 15, 2010
Marsh says proximate cause should not matter in determining whether Amy receives restitution.
"We think that the standard is harm. It's not cause," Marsh says. "If the victim was harmed by the criminal defendant's conduct, then she is entitled to restitution under this statute."
The stipulation that Amy did not know who Paroline is or that he possessed her images is a "red herring" in the case, Marsh says.
"It's clear that the victim knows that unlimited numbers of unknown individuals are engaging in this illegal activity. And that knowledge need not be particularized for the victim to be harmed," Marsh says. "I could send her lists of names of individuals, but they are all doing the same thing."
Marsh argues that Amy should be allowed to appeal the trial court's decision because she is the beneficiary of a restitution claim.
ABCNews.com - 'Misty Series' Haunts Girl Long After Rape: 8-Year-Old Abused By Uncle Winning Restitution - February 8, 2010
Some judges have said restitution goes too far in punishing pedophiles whose only crime is to view photos, but Amy's lawyer, James Marsh, disagrees, saying the brutality in the "secret society" of child pornography requires tough measures.
"This is not 13-year-olds in bras or sexting or 17-year-old girls gone wild -- these are kids who are raped," said Marsh, a New York City lawyer.
"In one notorious set of images, the father used to put a studded collar around his 6-year-old and wrote on her in what looked like blood, 'I am Daddy's little girl, rape me.' He locked her in a dog cage," he told ABCNews.com.
Marsh is now seeking restitution in 350 cases that involve photos of Amy, through automated filings to the United States attorneys handling the cases.
In 1995, Marsh helped update a federal law that gives victims the right to sue anyone who produces, distributes or possess their child sex abuse images. It now provides statutory damages of $150,000 for each violation of federal child pornography provisions and was incorporated into the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act and signed by President Bush 2006.
At the time, Marsh testified in Congress that social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube, as well as camera-enabled cell phones have "enabled and facilitated" child trafficking and the commercialization and distribution of child pornography.
A 2001 study of 400 inmates at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina concluded that offenders who were "merely collectors" of Internet child pornography were "significantly more likely than not to have sexually abused a child via a hands-on act."
Amy's lawyer insists the person who views the photos creates an incentive for violence against children.
Pornography "does not exist in a vacuum," said Marsh. A "powerful, long-term collector" - with 100,000 to 200,000 images -- can command others to commit sex crimes to obtain the images he wants.
"There is a misunderstanding of the crime, that it's photos of girls in bathing suits running around the sprinkler," said Marsh. "And people think pictures are not a big deal, it's just another greedy lawyer coming to cash in. But they don't understand the true nature of these criminal syndicates or the experience of the victim. For me, it's a no-brainer."
Los Angeles Times - Federal courts struggle with tough new question: restitution for child porn victims - February 8, 2010
Requests for restitution have picked up as more victims are identified — and as a couple of victims, including Amy, have hired attorneys, said Meg Garvin, executive director of the National Crime Victim Law Institute in Portland, Ore.
Hundreds of requests have been filed nationwide, most of them by Amy's attorney, James Marsh of New York. Marsh said that as recently as five years ago, restitution would have been impossible because victims wouldn't have known when someone was caught with an image of them. The Crime Victims Rights Act of 2004 set up a system for notifying the victims. Now, Marsh gets several notices a day on behalf of Amy.
Marsh, who declined to make Amy available for an interview, is seeking restitution for Amy in 350 cases nationwide. Each request is about $3.4 million. She won't get that amount in every case. But any sum collected would go toward that total to cover Amy's counseling, medical costs, future lost earnings and lawyer fees.
"Everyone is really grappling with this in good faith," said Marsh. "It's all over the place."
Minneapolis Star Tribune - Courts: Should child-porn victims get restitution? - February 8, 2010
Every day, "Misty" finds out that another pedophile has been caught with images of her. He could be a pastor, a cop or a mechanic busted with pornographic pictures taken when she was 8 or 9 years old. In each case, another person is making her a victim again and again, said her attorney James Marsh.
In each instance -- now at 350 and growing -- Marsh and Misty are seeking more than $3 million in restitution to help make her whole. It doesn't matter if the offender has one photo or thousands, Marsh said. Each offender should be just as liable as the next to pay full restitution.
"Right now, I am tracking 850 defendants," Marsh said last week. "The statute calls for restitution. Clearly the intent of the statute is to benefit the victims."
Misty's attorney acknowledged that few defendants have millions of dollars, but he said that's not her problem. Under the idea of "joint and several liability," it would be up to the offenders to go after other offenders to recoup their money.
Marsh said he has won restitution settlements ranging from $5,000 to $150,000 in about a third of the cases where they have requested it. In Florida, a judge ordered $3.6 million in restitution. Another Florida judge ordered $3.4 million, Marsh said.
The New York Times - Child Pornography, and an Issue of Restitution - February 3, 2010
When Amy was a little girl, her uncle made her famous in the worst way: as a star in the netherworld of child pornography. Now, with the help of an inventive lawyer, the young woman known as Amy — her real name has been withheld in court to prevent harassment — is fighting back.
The most novel approach is being taken by Amy’s lawyer, James R. Marsh, whose practice focuses on child exploitation cases. Mr. Marsh’s arguments are the fruits of a national movement granting greater rights to crime victims and shifting the financial burden of crimes to criminals, said Paul G. Cassell, a former federal judge and professor of law at the University of Utah, who advised Mr. Marsh and wrote a brief supporting his position in a Texas case.
Mr. Marsh contends that every defendant should be ordered to pay the full amount, under the doctrine of joint and several liability. According to that doctrine, the recipient would stop collecting money once the full damages are paid, and those held responsible for the amount could then sue others who are found culpable for contributions. But the doctrine, which developed in civil law, does not apply as easily in criminal law, especially with an indeterminate population of defendants.
Mr. Marsh has automated the process and e-mailed Amy’s filings to United States Attorneys in 350 cases. “I’m able to leverage the power of the Internet to get restitution for a victim of the Internet,” he said. Mr. Marsh has, in effect, expanded his small New York law firm by hundreds of federal prosecutors.
The Christian Science Monitor - Texas judge refuses bid to make child porn users pay damages - December 10, 2009
A federal judge in Texas Monday sentenced a man to two years in prison for possession of child porn, but refused to make him pay $3.4 million in restitution to the girl in the pictures. Prosecuting lawyers called the ruling a setback for victims of child porn.
The Paroline restitution case in Tyler, Texas, was seen as an important test of a tough anti-child pornography law in which federal prosecutors were seeking to impose the same high level of restitution on those found in possession of child pornography as would be imposed against those who physically abused a child, photographed the abuse, and distributed the images.
Prosecutors argued that the injury to the girl was ongoing as a result of those who continue to download images of her abuse.
The judge agreed that the abuse was ongoing, but he decided that it did not justify holding a defendant in a possession case to the same level of financial responsibility as an individual who carried out the physical abuse and created the child pornography.
Amy's lawyer, James Marsh of New York, has filed 250 restitution requests on her behalf in child pornography cases across the country. He said he was disappointed in Judge Davis's ruling.
"The court's decision is a serious set-back for victims of child pornography like Amy in their effort to obtain just and timely restitution for the ongoing crimes perpetrated against them," Mr. Marsh said in a written statement.
"How can we, as a country, justify awarding tens of thousands of dollars in damages to record companies for downloading a single song, while criminals who exploit children pay nothing," he said.
Marsh says it is now up to Congress, the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals, and the US Supreme Court to take up the issue.
The Virginian-Pilot - Victim of child porn seeks damages from viewers - October 25, 2009
Amy's attorney, James R. Marsh of New York, has been fighting the restitution battle for her. Amy, he said, remains in a very fragile state. She just had a baby and is in a troubled relationship.
"She is completely devastated by this," he said. "She basically doesn't have any joy in her life. This is just an awful situation."
Amy wrote in her victim impact statement that she feels unworthy of anything and a complete failure.
"What happened to me hasn't gone away," she said. "It will never go away."
Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel - Many ask 'Who else should be punished?' - October 25, 2009
"Child pornography harms the children in the images perpetually," said James Marsh, the New York lawyer who represents Amy. "It leads to the physical abuse of more children. Demand creates supply."
Marsh said U.S. Supreme Court decisions over the past three decades have upheld the concept that the mere act of viewing child pornography is an act that causes harm to the abused children.
He has filed for restitution for Amy in 310 pending cases nationwide. Marsh said he will stop filing requests when Amy is compensated for the full amount of her damages.
"It doesn't matter who is paying," Marsh said. "The goal is to make the victim whole."
Tyler Morning Telegraph - Attorney For Victim Asks For $3.4 Million - August 21, 2009
A groundbreaking and complex issue of restitution -- which attorneys for Amy claim she is entitled to from those who possessed illegal photos of her -- is spreading around the country and has become part of Paroline's Tyler case, the first in East Texas.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Baldwin, Paroline's defense attorney F.R. "Buck" Files Jr. and New York attorney for Amy, James Marsh, stated their views on the issue and answered questions by U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis during a three-hour hearing Thursday. But more time, resources and information are needed before the restitution issue can be resolved.
Baldwin said the government has the burden to prove the victim has been damaged and it is up to the judge to determine a restitution amount. He said the child pornography photos are a permanent record of her abuse that continues to be exacerbated by its circulation.
"There's a new injury with each publication of these photographs," he said. When Paroline opened those images, "he stepped into the room of abuse with 'Amy'" and became a participant in her abuse, he said.
Baldwin said the victim wanted to go to college and become a teacher but has been unable to do that because of the impact of the abuse.
"This is not a 'stepping into the room case,'" Files said. He said the judge must determine the harm caused by Paroline to the victim. He said it is unconscionable for the government to suggest $3.4 million is appropriate in the case.
Davis said the attorneys needed to decide how much restitution was appropriate, how they arrived at that amount and who pays it. He said victims are entitled to restitution for counseling and loss of income.
Davis said they could be able to use Paroline's case as a vehicle for other cases.
The Christian Science Monitor - A Bold Gambit to Reduce Demand for Child Porn - August 16, 2009
Federal prosecutors and a New York lawyer [James R. Marsh] are persuading courts to order anyone caught with illicit images to pay financial restitution to child victims.
Marsh says he is not seeking restitution for the original crime of sexual assault of a child. His claims on Amy's behalf are based on the idea that those who possess images of his client's abuse are guilty of a current violation of her privacy rights.
"This is an ongoing crime, an ongoing harm, that will never end," he says. "There is nothing that she can do, or I can do, or the US attorney can do, or anyone in the world can do to stop this crime."
Marsh adds: "All she wants is for people to stop looking at her and exploiting her over and over again."
Such an expansive view of restitution liability may introduce a strong deterrent to the flourishing exchange of child porn on the Internet. And it can help empower child victims, Marsh says.
Connecticut Law Tribune - Paying Dearly For Child Porn Possession - March 2, 2009
The victim hired White Plains, N.Y., attorney James Marsh. He said there is no distinction between Hesketh and the people who actually produced the pornography.
“The victim is a victim of sexual exploitation caused by this defendant,” Marsh said. “This notion that somehow we can excuse the defendant because there is no sexual contact is an affront to the victim.”
Hartford Courant - Judge Orders Child Porn Consumer To Pay Restitution - February 24, 2009
New York lawyer James R. Marsh, the victim's attorney and an expert on child abuse law, said Eginton's ruling is unlikely to cause a spike in claims for restitution.
That is because, he said, the number of victims who have been identified from seized computer images is tiny — perhaps 200 children. Many of those victims, he said, are still children; they were photographed or videotaped when they were babies.
Some victims may not be aware of their legal rights, Marsh said. In other cases, he said, parents may decide that children are better served by not going to court.
FoxNews.com - Terms of Enslavement: Web Sites' Outrageous Service Agreements - February 20, 2009
"Companies get into trouble when they try to move that content beyond the four corners of their service — that's what Facebook tried to do — and use content for commercial exploits," said James R. Marsh, a lawyer who writes ChildLaw Blog, which first posted news of Facebook's TOS change late last month.
In the extreme, he said, "They can take little Susie's pictures on the beach to Playboy, who then has their own license for using it — and you may not even know it. And then what? You're institutionalizing child pornography."
Boston Herald - Perv Cools Heels in Prison Hospital; Porn, abuse victim decries treatment of her tormentor - January 17, 2006
A vile sex offender who adopted a 5-year-old from Russia only to turn her into a sex slave is being treated at the cushy Devens prison hospital - an arrangement that prompted cries of outrage from the now-13-year-old survivor.
"Masha feels that treatment is inappropriate and that what (Matthew) Mancuso deserves is punishment for the crimes he committed," said attorney James R. Marsh, who represents Masha Allen.
New York Post - Couple Slam Adoption 'Scam' Lawyer - June 6, 2004
Experts say would-be parents in New York and nationwide must beware.
"The international adoption business is largely unregulated and fraught with scams - and dashed hopes," said James Marsh, an adoption lawyer in Westchester and senior fellow with the Center for Adoption Research in Massachusetts.
Poynter Online - Al's Morning Meeting: Fileswapper Busters - August 13, 2003
Concerned that information about your file-sharing username may have been subpoenaed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)? Check here to see if your username or IP address is on one of the subpoenas filed with the D.C. District Court. This information is drawn from the court's publicly available PACER database and will be updated when that system is updated.
The RIAA announced on June 25, 2003, that it will begin suing users of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing. According to the announcement, the RIAA will be targeting users who upload/share "substantial" amounts of copyrighted music.
It's interesting that law firms have begun advertising themselves as having special expertise in defending children who are accused of illegally downloading. Here is one I found.
American Bar Association Journal - The Most Vulnerable Clients - Attorneys Must Deal With Special Issues When Kids Come into Contact with the Courts - April 2003
In most cases, parents are given between six months and a year to show significant progress toward complying with court orders regarding their behavior. These mandates most often call for parents to undergo drug treatment, get a job, obtain suitable housing or take parenting classes, says James Marsh, founder of the Children's Law Center in Washington, D.C. Parents who fail to comply are stripped of their parental rights, and other permanency arrangements are sought for their children.
At least, the thinking goes, the children aren't left in suspended circumstances for an indefinite time. But while the safe families act has helped to introduce more certainty to the child welfare system and is widely hailed by children's lawyers as a step in the right direction, some say it can be a double-edged sword.
Sometimes, they suggest, it may be more productive in the long run to allow children to stay at home during efforts to help their parents improve their behavior. In some jurisdictions, for example, state agencies will require parents to submit to random drug testing to regain custody, even when drug use was not a factor in removing the children in the first place. But when a parent has a low-wage job and no car, says Haralambie, complying with the logistics of random drug tests can be next to impossible.
Marsh agrees that the good intentions driving the safe families act sometimes create a catch-22. The act requires states to provide support services to help parents comply with court mandates to improve their behavior, but underfunded state programs often have many more applicants than they can serve, he says. Drug treatment programs, for instance, may not have enough spaces to serve all the people who have been ordered by courts to undergo treatment if they want to retain custody of their children.
Albany Times Union - Bill to require clergy to report abuse cases - June 20, 2002
The measure sounds complex, said James Marsh, director of legal and policy analysis for the Center for Social Work Management, a nationwide watchdog and consulting group. He said people who would be required to report abuse cases might be confused about who they must refer allegations to.
The Washington Times - Lost in foster care? Data only now reflect needs of the children - April 29, 2001
The child welfare system is, in the end, an information system, and there are legal consequences if files are lost because a social worker quits or some other foul-up, said James Marsh, a lawyer who has done pro bono adoptions in the District.
"It's like garbage in, garbage out. If the information is bad, the court won't make a good decision and the child won't end up in a good place," he said.
The Washington Post - D.C. Child Welfare Chief Drops Lawsuit - August 24, 2000
“It is an extraordinary remedy for a judge to order the head of any agency into court,” said James Marsh, president of The Children’s Law Center. “I think it was based on an act of desperation and the reality of the Brianna case.”
The Washington Post - Quote of the Day - January 16, 2000
"The judges don't have crystal balls. It's just like a computer: garbage in, garbage out."
-- James Marsh, president of the Children's Law Center, explaining that decisions in child abuse cases often suffer because the social workers who advise judges are overworked or are insufficiently trained.
The Washington Post - Judges Describe Agonizing Decisions - January 16, 2000
"The judges don't have crystal balls. It's just like a computer: garbage in, garbage out," said James Marsh, president of the Children's Law Center, who went on to give one reason that cases require close monitoring.
"A lot of times, there are other people living in the house, and there are people coming and going," Marsh said. "The family is in one house one day, and they could be in another house the next day. It's difficult for social workers who have 40 or 50 cases to get out there and visit the home."
