Michigan CSAM Case Study: Prosecutor Declines to File Charges After Pre-Charge Defense

Few accusations move faster or carry heavier consequences than an allegation involving child sexual abuse material. In Michigan, these cases often begin with a search warrant rather than a phone call, and the damage to a person's name can start long before a prosecutor decides whether to charge anyone at all.

This case study shows how work done before any charge was filed led the prosecuting attorney's office to decline the case entirely.

The Situation

Our client sold a used computer on Facebook Marketplace. The buyer found illicit material on the device and reported it to law enforcement.

The computer had a history. Our client had bought it secondhand from a third party several years earlier, intending to use it for gaming and music. The machine never worked properly and could not connect to the internet, so it sat unused until he decided to sell it.

A Raid Before a Single Question

Law enforcement never contacted our client to ask about the computer or how he came to own it. Instead, officers executed a search warrant, raided his home early one morning, and seized every digital device in it, including his phones and computers.

After the raid, he called Barone Defense Firm for help facing an allegation that carried felony exposure of 4 to 10 years in prison, registration under Michigan's Sex Offender Registration Act, and collateral consequences that would have followed him for life.

Retaining Counsel Before Charges Were Filed

Our client retained the firm before any formal charge was filed. That timing is what made the rest of this possible.

Partner and Senior Trial Attorney Mike Boyle took the case and built a defense aimed squarely at the charging decision itself, while the prosecutor still had an open mind and before a case number ever existed.

Building the Defense

The strategy included:

• Understanding the client's story. Our first step in any case, whether the client has been charged or not, is to understand who that person is. We want to know their history, their concerns, their goals, and what they stand to lose.
• Coordinating a polygraph examination. A polygraph can sometimes help persuade a prosecutor not to file charges. After careful discussion with Mr. Boyle about what the examination would involve and how it could affect the investigation, the client chose to take one voluntarily. He passed.
• Conducting an independent investigation. We built a detailed timeline of the computer's ownership, going back to the original purchase.
• Collecting evidence. We gathered the communications surrounding both the purchase and the sale of the computer, secured witness statements from the client's roommate and father, and collected photographic evidence from the relevant period.
• Communicating strategically with law enforcement. We compiled our findings into a single package and delivered it to the lead investigator, then stayed in regular contact through a forensic analysis process that ran long.

The Detail That Decided It

Our defense centered on one idea: our client had no connection to the material found on that device. To prove it, we urged investigators to focus their forensic analysis on the dates the files were uploaded and last accessed.

Those dates told the story. All activity related to the material predated our client's ownership of the computer.

The Outcome

Forensic review of our client's personal devices came back clean, and those devices were returned to him. After a final review of all the evidence, including the timeline our team provided, the prosecuting attorney's office declined to file charges. The investigation is closed.

No charges were filed. No registration. No record.

Why Early Action Matters in CSAM Investigations

Once a charge is filed, the conversation changes. A prosecutor who has committed publicly to a case has far less room to walk it back, and the defense shifts from preventing a case to defending one.

Before that point, there is still a window. It is the window in which a timeline can be built, evidence can be preserved, and a complete picture can be put in front of the people making the charging decision. That window closes quickly, and it usually closes without warning.

If law enforcement has seized your devices, you are already inside it.

Speak With a Michigan Sex Crimes Defense Attorney

At the Barone Defense Firm, we work to protect our clients and make their side of the story heard before life changing charges are filed. If you are under investigation, or your devices have been seized, contact our office immediately for a confidential consultation.