Opinion ID: 2818183
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Figueroa

Text: Figueroa testified that he downloaded child pornography from LimeWire inadvertently, stating that, when I would observe it and would see child pornography, I would erase it. Figueroa estimated that he might have downloaded and viewed more than 100 videos of child pornography and more than 100 still images of child pornography, but he could not provide an exact number. He insisted that if he thought an image or video was child pornography, he would erase it. He also maintained that not all of [the images and videos shown at trial] look like child pornography. Although he admitted that he had searched on his computer for the terms young and sex together, he believed that Google would filter out any images of girls younger than 18. Figueroa further testified that he used LimeWire to create his own YouTube videos, typing in search terms to retrieve movies, photographs, and music. When he conducted those LimeWire searches, he would sometimes see child pornography, but he would erase it because [he] wasn't interested in it. Figueroa recounted an instance in which he looked for a soccer video by searching for the terms Best Goal Ever, but instead received a video of [a] -9- girl taking off her clothes and dancing nude. He deleted the video. Figueroa recounted a time when he was playing an online video game and met a person online who was trying to pass for being a girl. The girl asked Figueroa if he wanted her to send [him] pictures of her naked, to which he allegedly responded, How old are you? When the girl answered, I'm over 18, Figueroa said, Okay, that's fine. The girl then sent him photographs of her breasts, her vagina and her buttocks. Subsequently, the girl had a conversation with another player in the online video game, which Figueroa saw, and told the player that she was only sixteen-yearsold.5 Figueroa acknowledged that he kept the photographs the girl had sent him in his email account until federal agents seized his computer on May 12, 2010, at which time Figueroa used a university computer to delete the pictures from his email account. C. Figueroa's Challenges to the Sufficiency of the Evidence To support his claim that the evidence was insufficient to establish that he knowingly possessed the child pornography found on his computer, Figueroa makes the following arguments:6 (1) 5 At the time, Figueroa, the girl, and the third person who the girl had informed that she was sixteen, were all playing a video game together in which all players are able to view each other's chat conversations via a shot box. 6 In its brief on appeal, the government divides Figueroa's undifferentiated challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence in his opening brief into six categories. We find that division useful and apply it here. -10- none of the witnesses at trial could scientifically establish that he purposely intended to download any child-related pornography, and any child pornography he did download was inadvertent, (2) the seven videos and eighteen images were only partially downloaded and were therefore inaccessible to him, (3) whenever he inadvertently downloaded child pornography he deleted it, (4) anti-virus software on his computer could have accessed and modified any child pornography on his computer, (5) he afforded access to his computer to a number of other people, any of whom could have downloaded the child pornography, and finally (6) the government failed to establish that the images depicted actual children. We address each of these arguments in turn. 1. Intent to Download Child Pornography Figueroa contends that if his searches on LimeWire yielded child pornography results that were in turn downloaded onto his computer, it was inadvertent. The record suggests otherwise. Agent Colón, the computer forensics expert who examined Figueroa's computer, testified that the seven videos and eighteen images of child pornography were all contained in LimeWire folders on Figueroa's computer. Files obtained through LimeWire cannot automatically download onto a computer. A user would have to actively search for files and then select them by clicking to -11- download those files. Lieutenant Lang,7 an expert in computer forensics and peer-to-peer networking, explained that a LimeWire user employs the program's search tab to type in words such as preteen hard core, or pthc, which the user hopes will appear in a file name. Consistent with Agent Colón's testimony, Lang testified that when LimeWire search results show a file that contains the desired search term, the user must click on the file before it will download. Based on this testimony, a rational jury could have found that, in order to retrieve files with names such as porn pthc 9yo Vicki stripping and sucking (kiddie pedo illegal underage preteen) or naked penis preteen vagina little girls ass 6 year old panties gay hussyfan 7yo lolitaguy 8yr pussy pedo kiddie porn, Figueroa used search terms associated with child pornography. He then intentionally downloaded the files that the LimeWire network had shared with him in response to those search requests before any child pornography would be downloaded to the LimeWire folders on his computer. See United States v. Breton, 740 F.3d 1, 17 (1st Cir. 2014) ([A] defendant's . . . use of search terms associated with child pornography can support a finding that the defendant knew the images he retrieved contained child pornography.). 7 The government qualified Lang as an expert in peer-to-peer networking and computer forensics, without objection. -12- 2. Inaccessible Partially Downloaded Files Figueroa asserts that files on his computer that were not fully downloaded were inaccessible. Such a contention is rebutted by Lieutenant Lang and Agent Colón's trial testimony. Lang testified that under LimeWire's default settings a file will initially go to the incomplete folder and remain there until the file is complete[ly] downloaded, at which point it will move over to [a] saved [folder]. Videos and still images can be viewed by a computer user when they are located in a LimeWire incomplete folder. In fact, Lang noted, an illicit file could remain in an incomplete folder for a long time, possibly even for years, and be viewed there. Agent Colón testified that a file that has not been fully downloaded on LimeWire has a T preceding its file name. Once the file is completely downloaded, the T notation is removed and the file is automatically transferred to the saved folder. If someone attempts to view a partially downloaded file through LimeWire, the word preview is added to the T notation in the file name. Noting this testimony, Figueroa argues that, because none of the video files had preview in their titles, he could not have accessed them. Such an assertion is plainly contradicted by the trial record. Colón testified that the files could have been accessed via Windows Explorer, and no preview notation would be added to the -13- file name.8 Furthermore, Colón testified that a particular child pornography image had been accessed via Windows Explorer. Accordingly, a jury could have found that at all times the partially downloaded files were accessible to Figueroa.