If you are facing charges, the benefit of having an Alabama child pornography lawyer is enormous. Such an attorney will be well equipped to help you build the strongest defense possible, thanks to previous experience defending exactly these types of cases. Because of this, it is important to contact an attorney as soon as possible to begin mitigating the damage and building a strong defense. You also will learn about Alabama sex offender laws.
Jurisdiction of the ChargesIt is important to note that a person can be charged in Alabama even if they are in another city or state. The use of the internet and computers makes the material much more accessible and anyone who is willing to invest any amount of time, even unwittingly so, comes across these images, sometimes even without specifically looking for them. Regardless of the reason, the charges can travel across borders.
Sexting ChargesThere is no crime in Alabama that a person is not eligible to apply for treatment for as a youthful offender. While there are not a lot of young people that actually are getting prosecuted, there is the potential for that. Occasionally, there are stories in the press about students who have been using their cellphones to send images of their own breasts or genitalia to a member of the opposite sex. That is deemed to be the dissemination of child pornography if that person is under age 17.
It can be very serious and often young people do not really appreciate the fact that it is a crime, they feel like, “Well this is my boyfriend or girlfriend and we are intimate when we are together and this is something we are doing,” but it is still a crime under Alabama and Federal law.
Steps to Take if Under InvestigationWhen a person gets any idea that they may be the subject of a police investigation, they ought to contact an attorney right away. Sometimes an officer will come by to make a surprise visit. They may not have a search warrant but they want to come by to have a conversation and maybe check a computer.
Sometimes there is a card left on a door, sometimes there are phone calls, sometimes there is a letter. The common thread in almost every investigation is that the police want to hear from the accused.
Take, for example, a situation where there are multiple people living in a household but there is only one computer. Law enforcement will want to know who downloaded the image or images onto the computer. In order to prevent a situation where one incriminates oneself, it is important to contact a lawyer to take over communication with law enforcement and, eventually, the prosecutor should charges ensue.
Ways That an Attorney Can HelpThere are a number of ways in which an attorney can be extremely helpful. Being that buffer for communication with the police agency and the prosecuting authority is certainly primary. In this way, a lawyer can make the inquiry on behalf of the client, trying to see whether or not there is some type of agreement that can be reached about not prosecuting the case.
Sometimes police agencies are following leads that if a person helps them come to the truth of it, then they conclude it is not something that they need to invest their time and resources in.
Having a lawyer assist a person in doing that is invaluable, as a person cannot possibly hope to do it on their own. This is simply because they do not know the right people to talk to or the right kinds of conversations to have. Having an experienced attorney who knows the personalities involved and who knows what the law is, what is prohibited and what is not, and what the defenses are can be incredibly important.