So last Wednesday’s online story about the outcome of a child pornography possession trial certainly drew a lot of passionate comments on our Facebook page. At last count, there were more than 50 comments.
For those that don’t know, a Whitley Circuit Court Jury acquitted a Corbin man on all 200-plus counts of possession of a matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor. The images were found on his computer. (You can read the story in this week’s edition of the News Journal, by the way.)
Defense attorney Cliff Wilson successfully argued to the jury that just because you have pictures of naked children on your computer doesn’t necessarily mean that you are in possession of child pornography. The handful of pictures shown in court weren’t overtly sexual in nature. They essentially depicted a nudist family vacation. In case anyone is wondering, the family in question wasn’t the defendant’s family.
Suffice to say that many social media commenters were angry at the trial’s outcome.
Personally, I can’t see any good reason for a 50-plus year-old man to have naked pictures of children on their computer for any reason. Whether the jury reached the correct verdict is something that I will leave up to each reader to decide.
What I will say is that if you didn’t like the trial’s outcome, then you might not want to try and avoid jury duty next time you are called for it as many people do.
Regarding the social media comments left on our Facebook page about this story, I felt that a few were unfairly directed at defense attorney Cliff Wilson. One commenter suggested that Wilson, who is a public defender, should be disbarred.
As a public defender, Wilson doesn’t get the pick the cases he gets. He works for the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, which is a state office made up of attorneys, who represent clients that can’t afford to hire a private attorney.
Wilson did his job whether people like it or not.
Our system of justice in America is set up so that people accused of a crime are entitled to a trial by jury, if they so desire. Both Wilson and Commonwealth’s Attorney Ronnie Bowling, who was the prosecutor in the case, made strong closing arguments.
A jury composed of 12 Whitley County residents heard the arguments, deliberated for three hours and acquitted the defendant on all counts.
If Wilson hadn’t done his job adequately and the defendant got convicted, then the defendant would file an appeal based upon ineffective assistance of counsel, and we would probably have to go through another trial.
Just as we need police, prosecutors and judges to do their jobs correctly, we also need defense attorneys to do their jobs correctly. This is how the system works.
I think it is also fair to point out in terms of criticism of the jury that when our Founding Fathers created the United States Constitution, they did so with the intent that it is better for 10 guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be convicted. This is something that people should remember whether they agree with a trial’s outcome or not.
