## Facts

- Corey Reingold, age 19, used the GigaTribe peer-to-peer program, which allows users to share selected folders with approved “buddies” in a closed network.
- An FBI agent, acting undercover and added to Reingold’s network, accessed Reingold’s shared folder and downloaded child-pornography images and videos.
- Reingold admitted his conduct and pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2).
- The offense carried a five-year mandatory minimum sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 2252(b)(1).
- The district court (E.D.N.Y.) refused to apply the mandatory minimum as unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment and imposed a 30-month sentence.
- In calculating the advisory Sentencing Guidelines, the district court also declined to apply the two-level “distribution” enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(3)(F) based on Reingold’s peer-to-peer file sharing.
- The United States appealed, challenging both the Eighth Amendment ruling and the Guidelines calculation.

## Issues

1. Whether applying the five-year mandatory minimum in 18 U.S.C. § 2252(b)(1) to a 19-year-old convicted of distributing child pornography violates the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment.
2. Whether knowingly placing child-pornography files in a shared folder on a peer-to-peer network constitutes “distribution” triggering the two-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(3)(F).

## Decision

- The Second Circuit held that the district court erred in finding the mandatory minimum unconstitutional as applied; a five-year term for distribution of child pornography was not “grossly disproportionate” under controlling Eighth Amendment doctrine.
- The court rejected reliance on Supreme Court juvenile-sentencing cases because those categorical rules draw the constitutional line at age 18, and Reingold was legally an adult.
- The Second Circuit held that the district court erred by not applying the two-level Guidelines enhancement for distribution; knowingly making files available to others through a peer-to-peer shared folder constitutes “distribution.”
- The court vacated the sentence and remanded with directions to resentence consistent with its rulings, including application of the statutory mandatory minimum and correct Guidelines calculation.

## Legal Principles

- Non-capital term-of-years sentences violate the Eighth Amendment only in the rare case where the punishment is “grossly disproportionate” to the offense.
- Congress has broad authority to set mandatory minimum penalties, and courts must apply them absent a valid constitutional bar.
- Supreme Court Eighth Amendment decisions limiting certain punishments for juveniles apply categorically to offenders under 18 and do not create a constitutional rule requiring special treatment for young adults over 18.
- For U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(3)(F), “distribution” includes knowingly making child-pornography files available to others through a peer-to-peer shared folder; actual downloading by others is not required.
- A sentencing court may vary from the Guidelines, but it may not disregard a statutory mandatory minimum or adopt a Guidelines interpretation inconsistent with governing law.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit vacated a below-minimum sentence for child-pornography distribution, holding that the five-year mandatory minimum was constitutional as applied to a 19-year-old defendant and that peer-to-peer sharing warranted the Guidelines distribution enhancement, requiring resentencing under the correct legal framework.


United States v. Reingold, 731 F.3d 204 (2d Cir. 2013)