People v. Armas CA4/1

I.

BACKGROUND

A. Charges The People charged Armas with one count of distributing child pornography (Pen. Code, § 311.1, subd. (a); undesignated section references are to this code) and one count of possessing child pornography (§ 311.11, subd. (a)). Armas pled not guilty and demanded a jury trial. B. Prosecution Case The People called several employees of the Police Department of the City of Fontana (the Department) to testify at trial. 1. Jeremy Hale In 2018, Jeremy Hale was the supervisor of the Department’s task force that investigated Internet crimes against children. He targeted the use of peer-to-peer computer networks, which allow Internet users to share electronic files, including movies and images. Such sharing reduces download times because a user may download portions of the same file from multiple other users simultaneously. Hale explained that a peer-to-peer network user must install a certain type of software (e.g., eMule, eDonkey, or Gnutella) on his computer to access the network. During the installation, the user must select whether or not to allow sharing of files with other network users. The software allows the user to search the network for…