My husband/spouse, son, or other family member or friend has just been arrested. How can I help them?

Your spouse or family member/friend is in need of your immediate help to secure their release from jail. While the arrest is shocking you do not know what he did or how culpable he may or may not be. It is extremely easy to be falsely accused of child pornography offences. You will have plenty of time to decide how you ultimately feel but right now it is extremely important that you help him get out of jail on bail.

Ontario jails are extremely dangerous places particularly for those charged with child sexual offences. You husband, son, etc. may have done nothing wrong at all and now is not the time to judge. They need your help and you should call a lawyer immediately to assist with the bail procedure.

Bail in Child Pornography cases

When the Police arrest someone for a child pornography offence they will hold them overnight and bring them to court the next morning. This is the very first stage of the court process and the only issues to be determined are whether the accused will be able to be released on bail prior to the completion of their case and on what terms. As cases can easily take a year or more to be tried this is an extremely important part of the process. If the accused is unable to get bail they will be held in a provincial jail for many months (or years) while their case drags on through the courts.

Most first time child porn offenders will require a surety to pledge to supervise their release in the community. This is often the person’s spouse or parent. If nobody shows up to act as a surety the accused will have to go back to jail while a surety can be located. If your spouse, son, boyfriend or other relative has been arrested for child pornography the most important thing you can do is attend with a lawyer with proof of your finances for their bail hearing as soon as possible.

Bail: Terms of release in child pornography cases need to be negotiated and argued before the Judge or Justice of the Peace

If an individual is granted bail there will be conditions attached to it that can include house arrest, curfews, electronic ankle monitoring, non-attendance anywhere children are present and not to use any device capable of accessing the internet. In 2020 the internet restriction condition is for many people virtually impossible to comply with. It is quite difficult to find a working cell phone that cannot access the internet. Sometimes exceptions can be made for employment related purposes which is why it is extremely important to have a lawyer during the bail stage of the procedure to negotiate and advocate for this exception.

Child pornography bails can be highly restrictive on the accused’s liberty and not guaranteed and for this reason an accused should have private counsel representing them if possible.

Once the accused is released what are the next steps?

Once released the accused’s lawyer must obtain all of the evidence (disclosure) to review and determine what defences are available. Many of these cases are highly defendable especially if there is no confession or admission of guilt made by the accused. Sometimes evidence gathered through search warrants (or lack thereof) can be challenged as unconstitutional and thrown out. Sometimes exculpatory evidence exists such as someone having access to the computer, either directly (roommate, son's friend, etc.) or through hacking (could be anyone including someone using the TOR network). Sometimes the accused has been set up by an ex spouse, girlfriend or someone else who does not like them or is trying to gain an advantage in a family law case.

Given the mandatory extraordinarily harsh punishments even for first time offenders an accused must do everything they can to defend the charges.

Even in cases where the accused intends to plead guilty often the Crown Attorney will often seek a prison sentence of at least 4 years and restrictions for life. The accused may be able to substantially reduce their jail sentence (minimum of six months) and avoid or reduce the length of conditions imposed by the courts.

All child pornography cases require many court appearances and take many months - years to complete

Child Pornography cases often take between 6 months to 2 years to complete. This is because all cases in Ontario are slow to be tried or resolve generally and the most serious cases, such as child pornography offences, take even longer. There will be many court appearances between the first court date and the last one. The reason it takes so long is because it can take several months to receive all the disclosure, conduct a Crown Pre-Trial (resolution meeting), conduct a Judicial Pre-Trial (resolution meeting with the Judge and Police Officer in Charge), and for the accused to make a decision about whether they wish to plead guilty or not guilty.

If no strong defences are available to the accused they may wish to enter a guilty plea in exchange for a lighter sentence (minimum six months in jail) as opposed to a much longer one if found guilty after a trial. At the same time, many cases do have defences that may be successful and the accused may wish to test them in court.

If a trial is required they can take many months to be scheduled. Delays are also now significantly increased due to the COVID-19 virus. The scheduling of the trial would only happen after all the Pre-Trial Procedures, Motions, etc.


Call us today for a free case review
You need lawyers who understand technology and have experience defending child pornography related charges. Child porn sentences (including for all guilty pleas) result in mandatory lengthy jail terms, sex offender registrations, and other employment, travel, and immigration related consequences that can ruin your life.

Winning acquittals and withdrawn charges often requires more than traditional defence methods. It may be possible to avoid a conviction by raising doubt in your case using highly sophisticated technological and constitutional defence strategies.





Are you a lawyer? If you are defending a child pornography related case and are looking for expert advice regarding possible defences, case strategies, and information release management call us at: 647-228-5969.

Please note: We do not accept legal aid certificate cases. All clients are handled on a private retainer only.

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