From NORTH COUNTRY GAZZETTE:Ex-ACLU Chief Gets Seven Years For PornographyALEXANDRIA, VA—The former president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU who says that depression and “plummeting self-esteem†led him to download what prosecutors described as sadistic and abhorrent child pornography has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, of Arlington, Va., also a former public defender in the District of Columbia who represented the mentally ill and former Arlington youth sports coach, had pleaded guilty in June to one count of receipt of child pornography to satisfy the charges that he used his e-mail address and credit card to purchase and possess hard core, commercial kiddie porn which was “sadistic or masochisticâ€.
Rust-Tierney had admitted that he has accessed more than 850 pornographic images of children as young as four.
He told the court “I know what I have done is wrong, morally and legally,†he said. “My conduct in paying the producers of this material is reprehensible. I am filled with contrition, remorse and shame.â€
He admitted that all of the children in the images he possessed were under 12 years old and that he had used a computer in the bedroom of his 10-year-old son to view the files. Some of them were on CDs which had the logo of an American flag.
Rust-Tierney was president of the board of directors of the ACLU in Virginia from 1993 to 2005. He resigned in February after his arrest.
He has been in jail since his arrest in February, denied bail by two judges. Among the pornography allegedly in his possession was a six-minute video set to music by the rock band Nine Inch Nails that prosecutors described as “a compilation of some of the worst child torture and rape scenes†that police said they had ever seen.
As an ACLU executive, Rust-Tierney had lobbied against restricting Internet access in public libraries, taking the position that “recognizing that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and appropriately while in the library, the default should be maximum, unrestricted access to the valuable resources of the Internetâ€.
Rust-Tierney, active as a coach of youth sports teams in Arlington, said that “parents should have primary responsibility for setting rules for their children regarding Internet access. Older minors should have access to resources appropriate for their age group, even if such materials may be considered by some parents to be unsuitable for younger minorsâ€.
Prosecutors said that he spent nearly $1,000 between March 2005 and October 2006 on child pornography downloaded from the Internet.
Police said that there was no evidence of any improper contact with children. 9-10-07
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I guess all those years fighting for cable TV in prison weren't in vain.
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