KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A federal judge has been asked to award three child pornography victims more than $2 million in restitution from a Kansas man convicted of downloading their images over the Internet.
Brandon Hollister of Horton, Kan., pleaded guilty last year to one count of distributing child porn and was sentenced Monday to five years in prison. Three victims whose images were seized from Hollister’s computer have requested restitution.
But recent court decisions have left it unclear whether individual violators can be forced to pay such large amounts to reimburse victims whose images have spread to countless other people online.
A 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last week says the government must prove how much of those losses were caused by the defendant’s actions before awarding such large sums.
