Inept prosecution doesn't begin to explain this sentencing.
- Probation for 119 stomach-turning child pornography images and a backdated plea agreement so a pervert could avoid a felony conviction.
As part of the plea deal, Moore’s plea was back-dated so he could plead guilty to a misdemeanor.
Nov 27, 2007 - When Colorado teacher Bradford Moore was arrested for possession of 150 images of child pornography images o
f girls ages 5 through 16 on his computer, he was allowed to plead to misdemeanor sexual exploitation of a child. You can judge why from this article.
According to the Aspen Times' reporter Joel Stonington,
Despite the U.S. Department of Justice’s claim that the Internet has resulted in an “explosion” of child pornography images, local cases appear to be quite rare.The reporter goes on to elaborate.
So rare, in fact, that Pitkin County Assistant District Attorney Gail Nichols needed aid from the state when she prosecuted former Aspen drama teacher Bradford Moore. Moore, 49, pleaded guilty last Wednesday to misdemeanor sexual exploitation of a child.
Most of these cases, such as the one against Moore, typically used to be handled by federal prosecutors, but that has changed with the advent of the Internet.Prosecutor Nichols said it is unlikely Moore would have been sentenced to any jail time even if the case had gone to trial. “This resolution probably would have been appropriate even if he had gone to trial,” Nichols said. “It was very fair.”
While the U.S. Postal Service was a key agency because child pornography was trafficked through the mail, its role has diminished because of technological advances, Nichols noted.
The Department of Justice claims child pornography essentially was eradicated in the U.S. during the early 1980s, but the Internet has resulted in an “explosion” in the availability and accessibility of child pornography.
The high number of illegal photos and videos available online have led to a higher number of convictions nationally on child pornography charges, the justice department reports.
The technology also represents a hurdle in gaining a conviction in many of the cases. For example, one issue in Moore’s case was over the identity of the children. The defense suggested that some of the images may have been computer generated, but Nichols said she gathered information on the identities of the alleged children in the photos, sometimes just first names, from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
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TT - The likelihood of him going to prison would have been practically guaranteed with a federal prosecution. The U.S. Justice Department has a very aggressive program to combat child pornography called Project Safe Childhood. The U.S. State Department also has a Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
It is up to local governments to request Federal help in child pornography cases, something that Aspen, Colorado, was not likely to do given their anti-police, anti-authority attitude.
The Justice Department doesn't "claim" to have eradicated child pornography but the near-eradication of trafficking of child pornography in the U.S.. See the Child Exploitation and Obscenity web site. The result of which is that most child pornography production sites are outside the United States.
Trafficking isn't buying or selling pornography, it is defined as "sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or (b) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery."
TT - Link to Bradford Moore
SENTENCED Feb 4, 2008 - Moore was sentenced (not even close) to three years of supervised probation on a single misdemeanor conviction of possession or control of sexually exploitative material.
Dozens of community members attended the proceedings in support of Moore, who taught in the Aspen School District for 11 years.TT - If you believe that six months probation for the sexual exploitation of a six-year-old is appropriate, you ought to be fired, you stupid assed woman.
As Moore was sentenced, audience members cried along with him and gave him hugs afterward.
Even so, District Judge James Boyd was stern with Moore about the seriousness of the crime to which he pleaded guilty, reading from the state statute banning child pornography. “The crime you committed is part of you, too,” said Boyd, who recognized the extensive support shown at the sentencing. “Children were the victim of the crime.”
Deputy District Attorney Gail Nichols told the story of one 6-year-old she claimed was in one of the photographs found on Moore’s computer.“Those children feel victimized for a long time,” Nichols said. “With that in mind, the resolution was appropriate.”
Bruce Benjamin, the juvenile investigator for the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office who investigated the crime, said the photo files were matched through the Child Victim Identification Program. He said 28 of the 119 still photographs were positively identified as children from across the country and globe, including Brazil, England, France, Belgium and Germany.
“I have a strong stomach and I couldn’t sleep for two days after viewing [the images],” Benjamin said after the hearing. “Some of the images were extremely graphic.”
