Expert witness who "morphed" child faces into pornography successfully sued by kids' parents

Dean Boland testified in support of a person charged criminally with violating the federal child pornography act. Boland "morphed" two pornographic images with the images of childrens' faces in an attempt to demonstrate that the criminal defendants' actions could have been non-intentional. The parents of two of the kids sued Boland for violating the act and secured a verdict of $300,000.00 against him. He appealed arguing various First Amendment "free speech" theories. The Sixth Circuit held that his actions were not protected by the immunity normally granted to an expert witness. It also held that he could have achieved his purpose by using adult faces or virtual children and thereby avoided violating the strict terms of the federal statute.