A sampling of just 30 of those sites shows that there were at least 16,976 downloads of the Chinese Democracy album, or an average of at least 564 downloads of the infringed songs from each of those sites, prosecutors said. Even assuming that the number of downloads from each of the other sites was half of this average, the total number of illegal downloads resulting form Cogill's actions would still have exceeded 375,000, they said. Assuming the retail price to download each song had been $0.99, Cogill's actions resulted in over $371,000 worth of infringement, the prosecutors said.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which has been , meanwhile filed a victim impact statement on behalf of the music industry and Geffen/Universal Music Group, the owner of the infringed album.

In it, Carlos Linares, vice president of the RIAAs' anti-piracy group, said the damages suffered by the music labels as a direct result of Cogill's actions could be as high as $3 million. In , the RIAA said it could conclusively demonstrate a loss exceeding $151,000 based on the same sample size of 30 sites, that was used by prosecutors. He added that the a lower restitution of $30,000 if Cogill agreed to participate in a public service announcement saying music piracy was wrong.

Cogill's attorney, David Kaloyanides, meanwhile urged the court to follow an earlier presentence report prepared by the state probation office that recommended Cogill be given a one-year probation for his offence. He also asked the court to waive all fines, and to order no restitution in the case.

In making his case for Cogill, Kaloyanides attempted to downplay the scope of the copyright infringement being claimed by the prosecution and the RIAA.