Legal Commentary

Maine's Top Drug Prosecutor Indicted on Child P*rn Charges

By Jeralyn

Maine's former top drug prosecutor pleaded not guilty to child p*rn charges in federal court today:

James M. Cameron, 46, formerly of Hallowell, was indicted Feb. 11 by a federal grand jury in Bangor on 16 counts of transporting, receiving and possessing child p*rnography between July 10, 2006, and Jan. 26, 2008.

He allegedly uploaded images of child p*rnography to an Internet-based Yahoo photo album using five different screen names. Cameron, according to the indictment, also transmitted digital images of child p*rnography using Google Hello, an Internet-based chat and file-sharing service.

The images were found on his home computer but not his work computer. Check out the terms of his bail: [More...]

Kravchuk set bail at $75,000 unsecured with conditions that he be released to the custody of his brother, Daniel Cameron, in Westland, Mich., surrender his passport, wear an electronic monitor and have limited use of the Internet. Conditions also call for Cameron’s Internet use to be monitored by the U.S. Probation and Pre-trial Services office in Michigan with special software to be installed on a computer at his brother’s home.

Even that wasn't enough for the U.S. Attorney who wanted him detained without bail pending trial:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gail Malone, who is prosecuting the case, asked that Cameron be held without bail until his case is resolved. She argued that Cameron should be detained due to the serious nature of the charges, because the alleged victims in the case were minors and because the alleged conduct lasted more than a year.

Malone also said that the defendant posed a flight risk because he had traveled out of the country over the past several months and back and forth between Michigan and Maine on several occasions. She also said that “wiping software” appeared to have been used “to erase evidence” on the seized computers.

The possible penalty he's facing: a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence, up to 20 years.

The cost of incarceration in this country is insanely high. Detaining non-violent offenders prior to trial is one of the worst of the 80's crime bills (The Bail Reform Act of 1984) (pdf), and so are the double-digit sentences the Government keeps seeking. These aren't cookies we are tossing around, they are years of peoples' lives and the U.S. taxpayer is footing the bill.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 18, 2009 (boomark / email).