In May 2025, a man from Colorado City and a woman from Hemleigh who were in a romantic relationship with each other both received indictments arising from the distribution of illegal images depicting the sexual abuse of minors. The man allegedly used Facebook Messenger to transmit an illegal image to the woman. The court charged him with distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and her with receipt of CSAM.
In Internet sex crime cases like these, most of the evidence is in the form of files found on the devices of the defendant and on tips from content moderators. As with any crime, the state cannot convict a defendant unless the defendant pleads guilty or unless twelve jurors agree unanimously that there is no reasonable doubt about the defendant’s guilt. If you can cast doubt on any of the elements of the charge against you, then the jury must vote to acquit you; they must also acquit you if you can prove that the state obtained the evidence illegally.
If you are facing criminal charges for an Internet sex crime such as receipt of CSAM, contact a Texas sex crime attorney.
Is the Content Truly Illegal?
The First Amendment right to freedom of speech, including the possession and transmission of text and images that most people would find offensive. In a Supreme Court decision about whether it was legal to buy and sell books with sexually explicit content, a judge wrote that the government has no right to tell people which books they may read in the privacy of their homes. The law has generally applied this principle to online content. Possession and receipt of CSAM is illegal not because it is sexually explicit but because a minor was harmed in the creation of the content, and he or she continues to suffer harm every time someone sees the images of his or her abuse. This is why the law gives people whose childhood abuse is depicted the right to file civil lawsuits in relation to the production and dissemination of the content even years later.
Content only counts as CSAM if the person depicted in the content is a minor and if the content is sexually explicit or suggestive enough to count as abuse. For example, while critics of child modeling pageants argue that they present a harmfully sexualized image of children, a video of a preteen girl walking across a stage modeling an evening gown is not CSAM. Likewise, images that do not depict real people, such as drawings of fictional characters, are not CSAM.
Can the Prosecution Prove That You Intentionally Received the Content?
You cannot help whether someone sends you something without you requesting it; people get unsolicited emails, text messages, and social media communications all the time. You might be able to fight charges for receipt of CSAM if you can argue that someone sent you the content without your consent, and that you did not open it or, if you opened it, it was because you believed that it was something else.
Contact the Law Office of Patrick J. McLain, PLLC About Criminal Defense Cases
A Dallas criminal defense lawyer can help you fight charges for receipt of illegal online content. Contact the Law Office of Patrick J. McLain, PLLC in Dallas, Texas, to discuss your case.