Her lawyer, James Marsh, has gone after 400 similar cases in which Amy’s photos were found in someone’s possession. He sought $3.4 million restitution in this case, but the actual amount was agreed to by Marsh, prosecutors, the judge, and the defense attorney. Marsh has been going after individual possessors of child porn to set precedent that not just the creator and distributor of the child porn is to blame for a victim’s suffering. He’s out to prove that each person who views an image of a victim has caused additional harm.
“Restitution cases like Buchanan are empowering to my client who has gone from a nameless invisible victim to someone who is personally holding criminals responsible for violating her privacy and dignity,” Marsh says. “We feel strongly that every defendant should be required to pay something in restitution to the victims of this terrible crime.”
Marsh applauded the voluntary agreement in the case for eliminating possible litigation and additional burden on the government to make a statement in the case.