## Facts

- Joseph Michael Buchanan worked as a park ranger for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Lake Texoma and used an individually assigned, password-protected work computer whose usage was logged.
- After complaints of slow internet access, a system administrator determined Buchanan’s computer was connecting to pornographic websites and affecting office network performance.
- Buchanan’s supervisor, using administrative access, monitored Buchanan’s computer and found pornographic material; Buchanan admitted workplace misuse and was suspended after repeated incidents.
- In August 2002, the supervisor found pornographic images in Buchanan’s temporary internet folder (browser cache), copied files from that folder, and later copied the entire temporary internet folder to a CD that was provided to law enforcement.
- The FBI determined the CD contained 127 images, including 54 depicting minors; four were larger image files depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and many others were thumbnails.
- Examination of Buchanan’s computer also revealed encrypted files containing thousands of pornographic images.
- Buchanan was charged with four counts of receiving child pornography (one count per each of the four larger cached image files) under 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2), (b)(1), and one count of possessing child pornography under 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B).
- A jury convicted Buchanan on all counts; he appealed on multiple grounds.

## Issues

1. Whether charging four separate receipt counts under 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2) based on four cached image files from the same browsing episode was multiplicitous in violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause.
2. Whether Buchanan’s other challenges to his convictions and sentence warranted reversal or resentencing.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit held the four receipt counts were multiplicitous because they arose from a single episode of receipt and were not tied to distinct receipt transactions.
- The court vacated the four receipt convictions and remanded with instructions to reinstate only one receipt conviction and to resentence accordingly.
- The court affirmed the possession conviction.
- The court rejected Buchanan’s remaining appellate claims.

## Legal Principles

- An indictment is multiplicitous when it charges a single offense in multiple counts, creating a risk of multiple punishments for the same offense prohibited by the Double Jeopardy Clause.
- The permissible number of counts turns on the statutory “unit of prosecution,” determined by interpreting congressional intent in the charged statute.
- For receipt of child pornography under 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2), multiple images obtained during one continuous episode of receipt may constitute one offense absent proof of distinct receipt transactions.
- Receipt and possession counts are not necessarily multiplicitous when the possession charge rests on different images or a different set of conduct than the receipt episode.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit ruled that multiple receipt convictions based on several cached image files from a single browsing incident constituted multiple punishments for the same receipt offense; it vacated the receipt convictions, ordered reinstatement of only one receipt conviction, and remanded for resentencing while leaving the possession conviction and the remainder of the judgment intact.


United States v. Buchanan, 485 F.3d 274 (5th Cir. 2007)