Caleb Robert Wien v. United States

Section 2259(b)(2) of Title 18 requires a district court to order a defendant to pay at least $3,000 in restitution to certain victims of child pornography offenses once it finds specific facts about a victim’s losses and a defendant’s causal role in them. This Court has held that a possession or distribution defendant may be ordered to pay restitution only for the losses his own offense proximately caused. The questions presented are:

1. Whether the Sixth Amendment requires a jury, rather than a judge, to find beyond a reasonable doubt the facts that trigger § 2259(b)(2)’s mandatory minimum restitution award.

2. Whether § 2259 requires a sentencing court to first disaggregate the losses caused by a victim’s initial abuse from losses caused by the later possession or distribution of the victim’s images before determining the portion of the latter losses proximately caused by the defendant.