A defendant who viewed pornographic images of a child cannot be forced to pay for the victim’s counseling costs because she cannot show that his actions caused the trauma that made the treatment necessary, an appellate court has ruled.
Gerald Aumais had been ordered by a Northern District judge to pay $48,483 as restitution to “Amy,” now an adult, who learned that images of herself being sexually assaulted as a child were among those seized from Mr. Aumais when he crossed the border into New York from Canada in November 2008.
