Judge won’t guess on child-porn restitution

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson doesn’t like “wildass guesses,” according to federal courts Reporter Earl Rinehart.

Watson presided over a restitution hearing last week during which a civil attorney representing a child pornography victim called “Andy” had petitioned Watson for $ 58,415 in damages.

The attorney’s client wasn’t the underage teen the defendant had photographed nude and was convicted for, but Andy’s picture was on the defendant’s computer.

In 2014, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that child- pornography defendants could be liable to pay victims an amount proximate to the harm caused by having and/ or distributing the image. Watson has said Congress needs to set standards to help judges calculate how much restitution to approve.

A bill that would set those minimum amounts was passed by the U. S. Senate but has languished in the House Judiciary Committee since February 2015.

Although he commended Assistant U. S. Attorney Heather Hill for her “valiant effort” in arguing for restitution, he agreed with Assistant Federal Public Defender Rasheeda Khan, who argued there was no evidence the defendant had shared Andy’s image and there was no way to accurately figure how much he owed now and for the victim’s future therapy costs.

Another 158 defendants have either agreed to pay restitution to Andy or were ordered to do so.

Watson said the petition was based on a 2014 report that’s “not subject to cross examination” and “would not be admissible in a civil litigation.”

“There is no evidence Andy is a victim of this offense,” the judge said.

He called again on Congress “to give us some direction.”

“It’s essentially a wildass guess for me to figure the appropriate restitution,” Watson said before denying any to Andy.

Three drivers nabbed at sobriety checkpoint

Three people were arrested Friday at a sobriety checkpointon the Northeast Side on suspicion of driving under the influence.

That’s higher than normal for many checkpoints. Often there’s no impaired driving arrests.

Each time there is a checkpoint, law enforcement notifies the public in advance through media outlets to protect against Fourth Amendment violations after a Supreme Court ruling.

A total of 145 vehicles were checked in more than four hours during the checkpoint operation.

There also were three misdemeanor arrests for other offenses and one misdemeanor warrant arrest. A total of 28 citations were issued for various traffic offenses.

While checkpoints don’t yield a high number of arrests, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that they reduce alcoholrelated crashes that result in death, injury or property damages by about 20 percent. Experts say the goal of the checkpoints is to create awareness to prevent drinking and driving.