What’s the appropriate sentence for someone collecting at least 2,300 child pornography images? If you’re Ohio Prosecutor Lisa Neroda, you think at least 10 years. If you’re Common Pleas Judge Vincent Culotta, not only do you think 4 years will suffice, but you’ll chastise the prosecutor for her recommendation.
According to the Willoughby, Ohio News-Herald,
Judge Culotta angrily responded to Neroda’s recommendation: “I’m ...not
trying to minimize Mr. Skala’s conduct, but I’ve got to compare it with
other cases of similar nature. There are a number of cases where people
are being sentenced for actually harming children, and the
recommendation does not even come close to 10 years...You do realize
that he never actually touched a child, right?”
The judge did bolster his point with prosecutors, giving them "recent
examples in which the prosecutor's office recommended lesser sentences
for actual sexual assaults," says the paper.
His Public Defender, Charles Grieshammer asked for probation and duly
noted of his client: “It’s not like he was paying for anything. It’s
out there.”
Neroda’s response was succinct: “The FBI and sheriff’s office indicated
this may be one of the largest volumes (of child porn). He was viewing
pictures of children who were touched (by others), and they are
victimized each and every time someone watches.”
While it's disturbing when any judge minimizes sentencing for child pornography crimes, traditional child abuse prosecution practices do raise questions about disparate sentencing. Prosecutors routinely offer extremely light plea bargains for serious crimes against children, simply because their cases are not 'slam-dunk' easy, like most child pornography cases are. Prosecutors who are chronically risk-averse (or hard work-averse) commonly offer defendants minimal jail time and sex offender registration for repeated child rape, hoping to avoid a challenging, time-consuming trial they might not win.
But judges like Culotta know how the system works... and they should know how serious child exploitation crimes are.
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