United States v. Moreland, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 24981

Keith Moreland was convicted of knowingly possessing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B) based on 112 images found on two home computers in the Moreland household.
George Moreland, Keith's dying father, resided with Keith and Deanna in 2007–2008 and frequently used the computers, including while Keith was at work.
The computers were jointly used by Keith, Deanna, and George; all had access to Keith's Yahoo account and passwords, and the police recovered the computers on September 28, 2007.
The government introduced evidence from a police computer analyst who recovered images from disk slack space and from index.dat files, but the analyst could not establish who used the computers or when images were downloaded.
Keith argued the evidence showed George, not Keith, possessed the images; the Fourth Circuit ultimately held the evidence insufficient to prove Keith knowingly possessed the images beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court reversed the district court’s conviction, holding the evidence did not establish Keith’s knowledge or dominion/ control over the 112 images.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for knowing possession	Keith knowingly possessed images through joint custody.	Keith lacked knowledge and dominion; George possessed the images.	Insufficient evidence to prove Keith knowingly possessed.
Constructive possession in a jointly occupied home	Joint occupancy plus access proves constructive possession.	Joint occupancy is insufficient without knowledge or access specifics.	No plausible inference of Keith's knowledge or control; conviction reversed on this ground.
Due process review standard	Jackson v. Virginia standard supports affirming if any rational basis exists.	Evidence viewed as a whole supports guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.	Conviction must be reversed; evidence fails to meet due process standard.

Ferber, 458 U.S. 747 (1982) (child pornography not protected by First Amendment; compelling state interest)
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002) (criminalization of possession of child pornography in some contexts)
Osborne v. Ohio, 495 U.S. 103 (1990) (states may criminalize possession of child pornography when real children involved)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard of review for sufficiency of evidence to sustain a conviction)
Mergerson, 4 F.3d 337 (5th Cir. 1993) (constructive possession requires more than joint occupancy)
Winkler, 639 F.3d 692 (5th Cir. 2011) (sufficient evidence where defendant sought out, downloaded, viewed, and controlled images)
Dobbs, 629 F.3d 1199 (10th Cir. 2011) (cache images alone insufficient; must show knowledge and ability to access)
Kuchinski, 469 F.3d 853 (9th Cir. 2006) (cache files require knowledge/access; otherwise lack of possession)
Tucker, 305 F.3d 1193 (10th Cir. 2002) (evidence of downloads, cache access, and payment to access child pornography support possession)