Amy v. United States District Court

Amy and Vicky, child pornography victims, petition for a writ of mandamus pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3771 , the Crime Victims Rights Act (“CVRA”). Finding no legal error or abuse of discretion, we deny the petition.

This matter was previously before the court in a CVRA petition that challenged the district court’s denial of restitution to petitioners “Amy” and “Vicky.” See In re: Amy (“Amy I”), 710 F.3d 985, 986 (9th Cir.2013) (per curiam). We denied petitioners’ request to overrule United States v. Kennedy, 643 F.3d 1251 (9th Cir.2011), noting that Kennedy remains binding on this court in the absence of intervening higher authority that is clearly irreconcilable with our circuit precedent. 710 F.3d at 987 . Kennedy requires a court to “identify a causal connection between the defendant’s offense conduct and the victim’s specific losses” before awarding restitution pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2259 . 643 F.3d at 1262 . The Amy I court concluded, however, that “the district court abused its discretion in refusing to order any restitution,” finding petitioners had “provided sufficient evidence to establish a causal connection between defendant’s offense and petitioners’ losses.” 710 F.3d…