United States v. Bennie Richardson, IV, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 6559

Richardson challenged his conviction and sentence after a stipulated bench trial on whether his conduct constituted distribution.
An undercover officer used LimeWire to locate and download child-pornography from Richardson’s computer.
Police found LimeWire running; Richardson’s shared folder contained 144 known child-pornography videos.
Richardson admitted he used the computer, installed LimeWire, and knew his shared folder was accessible to others.
District court calculated guideline range; imposed 151 months on Count 1 and 120 months on Count 2, concurrent; sentence would be same regardless of calculation.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether storing in a shared folder constitutes distribution under 18 U.S.C. 2252A(a)(2)(B).	Richardson argues no delivery or transfer occurred.	Government contends making files available to others is distribution.	Yes; storage in a shared folder constitutes distribution under the statute.
Whether applying U.S.S.G. 2G2.2(b)(6) doubles-counts the computer as an element.	Double-counting because computer use is already in the offense.	Guidelines allow enhancement where computer use occurs.	Not impermissible double-counting; enhancement allowed; harmless error.

United States v. Shaffer, 472 F.3d 1219 (10th Cir. 2007) (peer-to-peer sharing can amount to distribution)
United States v. Chiaradio, 684 F.3d 265 (1st Cir. 2012) (making files available for others constitutes distribution)
United States v. Powers, 379 F. App’x 347 (5th Cir. 2010) (distribution by making images available on P2P network)
United States v. Budziak, 697 F.3d 1105 (9th Cir. 2012) (placement of files in shared folder constitutes distribution)
United States v. Collins, 642 F.3d 654 (8th Cir. 2011) (distribution in shared network context)
United States v. Lynde, 428 F. App’x 334 (5th Cir. 2011) (guideline application not barred by double-counting)