An Anchorage Superior Court judge will decide whether restitution should be awarded to five victims of child pornography identified through a national clearinghouse in a case nearing its end here.
It's a first for Alaska, prompted by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that some recompense is warranted from those who possess images of exploited children.
Sentencing began Wednesday for former Air Force Maj. Peter Christopher Davis, who entered into a plea agreement on May 30 for a single charge of child porn possession. Davis originally faced 37 counts for possession and distribution of child sexual exploitation videos and pictures.
Davis was the assistant director of operations for the 3rd Operations Support Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. He joined the Air Force in August of 2001 and has been stationed in Alaska since May 2010.
The 36-year-old was arrested in August 2012 after sending child porn images to Anchorage Police Department investigators over a file-sharing program, according to court testimony from detective James Estes.
Police obtained search warrants for Davis' home and seized three devices -- two laptops and an external hard drive -- containing hundreds of images, Estes said.
Davis posted bail shortly after his arrest but has been in custody since changing his plea earlier this year, said assistant attorney general Adam Alexander.
The prosecutor spent the majority of Wednesday's hearing questioning Estes about the investigation and presenting evidence. Alexander pulled images printed on office paper from a manila envelope and identified them as child porn with Estes' help; he also showed snippets of videos to Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby.
The illegal materials, taken from the seized devices, were the basis for the possession charges against Davis. The distribution charges, which were dropped in the plea deal, stemmed from Davis sharing images with police over the file-sharing program Limewire.
Some of the images depicted girls as young as 4 to 6 years old being sexually abused, according to the testimony.
Supporters of Davis -- former co-workers, family friends and relatives who traveled to Alaska from North Carolina -- filled the second row of the courtroom. The co-workers and friends said they were there to show support. Davis' family said they would do whatever was necessary to help him.
Saxby cut the hearing short, and the parties have not yet given their sentencing remarks. Davis' penalties will not be decided until Jan. 2, 2015, the earliest date both defense and prosecution were available.
According to the state's sentencing memorandum, the prosecution will be asking Saxby to impose a sentence of six years of jail time with three years suspended. Child porn possession carries a maximum sentence of 99 years, and the presumptive range for a first-time offender of the crime is two to 12 years.
"The state's hope is that the court avoids the temptation to split the baby or impose the mandatory minimum and sentences the defendant accordingly on the consolidated count of possession of child pornography before the court," Alexander wrote in the memorandum. "Anything less ... would send the message that possession of large amounts of child pornography" constitutes an offense too trivial to merit consideration in Alaska.
Additionally, the state is requesting Saxby impose "some degree of restitution for the five 'known' victims" identified in images possessed and shared by Davis.
The victims in question have been identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a clearinghouse for victim information with the goal of helping law enforcement and families find missing kids, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent further victimization.
The center also maintains a database of "hash value identifiers," identifying characteristics of the illegal images, "so officers can check to see if they're illegal without having to view the images," Alexander said.
"To best of my knowledge, none of the five victims in this case are Alaska-based," he said.
Alaska law generally requires the court collect restitution for victims of crimes, Alexander said. The question of whether restitution is appropriate in cases of child pornography possession was recently addressed in the Supreme Court case Paroline v. United States.
The higher court grappled with whether defendants who possess images of victims "should be made liable for the victim's entire losses from the trade" of those images.
"The court said no, they're not," said Alexander. "But some fair measure of restitution can be imposed, and that's now before the state court."
It's the first time the state will be asking a Superior Court judge to impose restitution to known victims in a case of this nature.
"(Davis) didn't take these pictures. He got them from the Internet, but fair restitution for those five children that were among the dozens of children he had images of is warranted," the prosecutor said.
Saxby briefly addressed the issue of restitution before Wednesday's hearing wrapped up. The judge said he was sympathetic to the state's request but had concerns.
"First of all, I'm concerned that the five victims who have been identified, perhaps if some type of restitution is ordered directly to them, that might actually increase their distress by being reminded again that this is continuing to happen," Saxby said.
The judge also said he was interested in looking into the state's ability to impose restitution other than monetary reimbursement, like having the defendant work in some fashion, and whether it would fit within the guidelines laid out by the Supreme Court.
Davis' sentence will likely be imposed at the January 2015 hearing, while restitution will be determined at a later hearing.