Morphed Images = Sex Offender Registration For Life.

Defendant was convicted of possession of child pornography and sentenced to 90 days in custody, 36 months probation, a $17,000 fine and must register in sex offender registration for life.  On appeal, defendant claimed some of the photographs were innocent images of children which were digitally altered or “morphed,” which often means they were created by superimposing an image of a real child’s head on someone’s body image. The Ninth Circuit affirmed his conviction, noting:  “Morphed images are different from traditional child pornography because the children depicted may not have been sexually abused or physically harmed during the images’ production.  But morphed images are like traditional child pornography in that they are records of the harmful sexual exploitation of children,” and holding:  “Irrespective of whether the images are in fact morphed, [defendant’s] claim fails because there is no clearly established Supreme Court law holding that images of real children morphed to look like child pornography constitute protected speech.” Shoemaker v. Taylor  (Ninth Cir.; August 6, 2013) (As Amended, September 13, 2013) (Case No. 11-56476).