KY- Prosecutors in Child Pornography Case to Seize Residence

7-7-2009 Kentucky:

Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Kentucky don't just want to put Joseph Robert Leitner in prison for years. The federal government wants his house.

Leitner, 62, pleaded guilty last week to charges that he possessed more than 30,000 images of child pornography, and he agreed to give up his home in the Chevy Chase subdivision of Lexington, court records show. A copy of the plea agreement is here.

Leitner, who was indicted last year, has been held in custody since October 2008. He pleaded guilty to one count of downloading child pornography in a case bolstered by images and computers taken from his home last year. Leitner faces between five and 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for October. His lawyer, Jeffrey Darling, was not immediately reached for comment on Monday.

The property forfeiture marked the first time that prosecutors in the Eastern District of Kentucky have seized a home in a child pornography investigation. The forfeiture of houses more often occurs in drug prosecutions.

"He used his house as a protective shield to allow his criminal activity to go undetected," said Kyle Edelen, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. Prosecutors, he said, based the forfeiture decision on the number of images and the frequency of the downloads.

U.S. District Judge Karl Forester signed a preliminary judgment (.pdf) of forfeiture June 30, ordering the government to provide notice and conduct ancillary proceedings to determine whether any third parties have rights to Leitner's property. "We're not going to just rip someone from their home or leave innocent people without homes," Edelen said.

In February 2008, a defendant in the Northern District of Texas forfeited his house in a child pornography case. "We're taking the war on child exploitation very seriously and we're making it very personal. None of your property is safe if you use it to exploit children -- you can even lose your home," then-U.S. Attorney Richard Roper said in a statement at the time the defendant was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In an interview, Roper, who is now a partner at Thompson & Knight in Dallas, called forfeiture in child pornography cases "cutting-edge theory" and urged prosecutors to use discretion. Forfeiture, Roper said, should be based on a case-by-case basis. "Just because the statute gives you the authority to forfeit property doesn't mean you must do it." ..Source.. by Mike Scarcella