## Facts

- During an investigation of unrelated allegations, Barton’s wife gave authorities Barton’s laptop computer.
- A forensic examination found 156 suspected child-pornography images on the hard drive; Barton was indicted on 106 images.
- Barton was charged under OCGA § 16-12-100(b)(8) with knowingly possessing or controlling material depicting a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
- The State’s forensic analyst testified that internet browsing automatically stores viewed images in temporary internet files (cache) and that users generally cannot prevent this storage; pop-up images can be cached even if not sought by the user.
- The charged images were located in temporary internet cache folders, and the analyst testified they could not be retrieved by an ordinary user without special forensic software; no such software was found on Barton’s computer.
- The forensic evidence did not show that Barton saved or downloaded the images into a user-controlled location, how long any image was displayed, or whether Barton intentionally sought the specific images.

## Issues

1. Whether evidence that images existed only in temporary internet cache files, inaccessible without forensic software, was sufficient to prove Barton knowingly possessed or controlled child pornography under OCGA § 16-12-100(b)(8).
2. Whether the trial court erred by allowing the forensic analyst to opine on the ages of persons depicted in the images.

## Decision

- The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed Barton’s 106 convictions for sexual exploitation of children.
- The court held the State failed to prove the statutory element that Barton knowingly possessed or controlled the images.
- Because reversal rested on evidentiary insufficiency, the court did not need to decide the challenged admission of age-opinion testimony.

## Legal Principles

- Under OCGA § 16-12-100(b)(8), the State must prove that the defendant knowingly possessed or controlled the prohibited material; the mental state applies to the possession or control element.
- The presence of child-pornographic images in automatically created internet cache files, without additional proof of conscious dominion or user-accessible control, is insufficient to establish knowing possession.
- Evidence is insufficient where the State shows only automatic browser storage and does not show intentional saving/downloading, ability to access the files as stored, or other facts permitting an inference of conscious control.

## Conclusion

The court reversed Barton’s convictions because the State’s proof showed only that the images were automatically stored in temporary internet cache files that an ordinary user could not access, which did not support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that Barton knowingly possessed or controlled child pornography as charged.


Barton v. State, 286 Ga. App. 49, 648 S.E.2d 660 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007)