NY court orders $3M in restitution to CP victim

A New York federal court has ordered a defendant convicted of child pornography crimes to pay restitution of $3,381,159 to the victim. (United States v. Lundquist, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153971 (N.D.N.Y. 2012)). Many courts have only ordered defendants to pay a portion of the damages, but this court found "it is entirely fair, reasonable and appropriate to hold Defendant liable for payment of the full amount of restitution (rather than to apportion liability among all the individuals in question to reflect the level of contribution to Amy's loss and economic circumstances of each individual)."

Also worth noting is that before that holding, the court found three ways in which the defendant could be ordered to pay restitution. The first, under 18 USCS § 2259 allowed for defendant to pay a 1/113 share of the total damages of $3,381,159 (113 because that was the number of defendants convicted for possessing images of this victim). Alternatively, an award of $150,000 was permitted under Marsha's Law. Also, $5,000 may be awarded under 18 U.S.C. § 2259 as nominal damages.

To see how several circuit courts have addressed restitution in other child pornography cases, click here for previous posts.