Arizona has some of the strictest porn and child molestation laws in the nation. Both offenses are felonies. People who are convicted of offenses against minors often spend decades in prison with no prospect of release.
Arizona child pornography laws are set out under a very broad statute. Child pornography, also known as sexual exploitation of a minor or child exploitation, includes a wide spectrum of activities. Arizona law prohibits “recording, filming, photographing, developing, or duplicating any visual depiction in which a minor is engaged in exploitative exhibition or other sexual conduct.”
The state’s law also targets “distributing, transporting, exhibiting, receiving, selling, purchasing, electronically transmitting, possessing or exchanging any visual depiction in which a minor is engaged in exploitative exhibition or other sexual conduct.”
Child pornography offenses are a Class 2 felony under state law. A conviction for possessing an image or a sex act carries 10 years in prison for each offense. In other words, a defendant will receive 10 years for each single pornographic image. If you downloaded 10 images, you could receive 100 years in prison.
In one case, a man received 200 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor, including possession of images of children under the age of 15 engaged in sexual conduct. When the minor is under 15, the sentencing range is 10 to 24 years in prison, without any possibility of probation, early release or parole.
A report on Reuters noted how Morton Berger was convicted on 20 separate counts. The trial judge gave him the required minimum sentence of 200 years in prison, comprising 10 years for each count. The judge rejected the prosecutor’s request for a 340-year sentence. Berger’s appeal of the sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court proved unsuccessful.
Child molestation in Arizona is also a class 2 felony. A defendant commits molestation of a child if he or she intentionally or knowingly engages in or causing a person to engage in sexual contact, except sexual contact with the female breast, with a child who is under 15 years of age.
On a first offense of child molestation, a defendant faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of 24 years with a presumptive prison sentence of 17 years.
The minimum sentence for a second offense is 21 years, with a maximum of 35 years.
Arizona’s strict porn and child molestation laws mean you will be facing the prospect of a long prison sentence if you are convicted of these crimes. There are defenses. If a lawyer can show the defendant did not know what he or she was doing, this is a defense to the crime. Please contact our experienced Phoenix criminal defense attorney today for more information.
