Pprn radio network7/14/2023 ![]() He said that he and other attorneys have been in discussions with prosecutors, trying to persuade them not to file charges. Weinberg said investigators searched Ward's house and computer in early 2005. Ward's indictment focuses on his actions in December 2004 and January 2005. "There has to be some way in which journalists and academics can access these materials when it's not for a prurient purpose," said Doron Weinberg, Ward's criminal attorney. But, Ward's attorneys said there should be a further exceptions. If you want to get involved to that level, you almost have to do it through working with law enforcement."įederal law provides a defense if a person accidentally possesses three or fewer child porn images and they are immediately destroyed and reported to police. "If you tried to buy or sell cocaine, no one cares if you're just doing it for a story. "It's no different than trying to get involved in drugs," Leslie said. In 2000, for example, a federal appellate court rejected a freelance reporter's claim that the First Amendment protected his right to trade pornographic pictures, which he claimed were part of his research. In the few cases where journalists have been charged with trading in child pornography, the courts have treated them like any other defendant, Leslie said. "The purpose of the law is to protect the images by the most careful and deliberate means." "Congress has developed a more or less zero tolerance policy for this and I think the American public can understand that," said Andrew Oosterbaan, chief of the Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity section. Though it is illegal to possess the images by saving, printing or e-mailing them, it is not illegal to merely view the images, said Parry Aftab, a cybercrime expert.Įven when the images are evidence in a criminal case, defense attorneys are often required to view them only in a government facility, instead of getting copies of the pictures. Reporters usually consult with or work with law enforcement to access the material, said Gregg Leslie, legal defense director at the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press. Though journalists tackle touchy issues like child pornography, it is generally illegal to possess child pornography for any reason and federal law does not provide an exception for reporters or academic research. If Ward's version of events is true, his case touches on a problem facing some journalists and attorneys who deal with child pornography. "He lost track of himself and didn't stop and think about what he was doing." ![]() "He tried to have a dialogue with people and see what he could talk them into saying and agreeing to," she said. Ward and prosecutors from the Department of Justice declined to comment on the case. Jeanette Boudreau, Ward's business attorney, said Ward - described on his Web site as "unabashedly liberal" - told her he wanted to show that some Republicans and members of the religious right are public moralists who don't practice what they preach in the privacy of their homes. Though it is illegal even for journalists to trade or possess child pornography as part of their work, Ward's attorneys argue that there should be some leeway for legitimate research into the subject. Ward's lawyer told ABC News that Ward e-mailed the illicit images, but only as part of his research into a book about what he believed to be the hypocrisy of the religious right. If convicted, he faces a minimum of five years in prison for each charge. 11, 2007 — - A well-known San Francisco talk radio host who says he e-mailed child porn as part of research for a book has been indicted on federal pornography charges.īernie Ward, 56, a former priest and popular host of two local talk radio programs, was charged, in an indictment unsealed late last week, with two counts of distributing child pornography and one count of receiving the material.
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