Opinion ID: 766961
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Reliance on Factors Inherent in the Use of a Computer

Text: 46 As noted, the district court included in its rationale supporting a downward departure the following: (1) the only thing that Defendant did was to download pornographic images onto his computer's hard drive, and (2) had he not done so, pornographic images of children that are on the Internet would continue to exist and be widely available on-line. 47 Those rationales for a downward departure are impermissible, because they contradict the applicable Guideline provision that requires a sentencing enhancement for the use of a computer. See U.S.S.G. S 2G2.4(b)(3) (providing for a two-level enhancement [i]f the defendant's possession of the material resulted from the defendant's use of a computer). It is impermissible to consider Defendant less culpable for obtaining pornographic images from the Internet, when the applicable Guideline provides for a sentencing enhancement for using a computer. We must assume that the Sentencing Commission understood that a single user of a computer is small in comparison to the total number of Internet users.