A Fort Worth couple accused of promoting child pornography through their
Internet site were found guilty Friday night.
Thomas and Janice Reedy had pleaded not guilty to 89 criminal counts
related to conspiracy, possession and distribution of illegal images of
minors during a trial that began Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
After almost eight hours of deliberation, jurors found Mr. Reedy, 37,
guilty on all 89 counts; Mrs. Reedy, 32, was guilty on all counts,
except for possession.
When the verdicts were read, Mrs. Reedy started crying and put her
head in her hands. She reached across the table, and her husband took
her hand.
Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date. Each count has a
statutory punishment of up to 15 years in prison, except for possession,
which carries a five-year maximum.
This was the largest child-pornography case that the U.S. District
Court in Fort Worth has prosecuted. Assistant U.S. Attorney Terri Moore
said the verdicts should serve as a warning.
"To other people who run sites like this, I hope that it will
frighten them to know that we are smarter," she said.
"It is shocking the amount of pedophilia that is out there. I don't
think one trial is going to stop it. To the community, I think this is a
reassurance that we are prosecuting crimes of all types and on all
levels."
Defense attorney Wes Ball said he plans to appeal.
"We are disappointed with the verdict," he said. "We didn't think the
responsibility goes to this level when you're dealing with the
Internet."
Mr. Ball said he plans to ask for a hearing to release Mr. Reedy, who
was taken into custody because he was considered a potential flight
risk. Mrs. Reedy remains free on bond and left the courthouse with
family members, who declined to comment.
Defense attorneys had asserted that while the couple operated a
for-profit adult verification system that prohibited minors from
accessing sexually oriented sites, the Reedys were unaware that some of
the links led to child pornography.
But prosecutors contended that the couple were aware of the site's
content, offering subscribers the illegal images because they were more
lucrative than legal adult pornography.
In her closing statement delivered before the jury was sent out about
11:30 a.m. Friday, Ms. Moore said the Reedys "were feeding pedophiles."
"This case is about people who steal the innocence of children -
people who debase and degrade and feed off it," she said.
Mrs. Reedy testified in her defense Thursday. She denied any
knowledge of child pornography linked to their company, Landslide Inc.,
during the two years she worked there, mostly keeping the company's
financial records.
Ms. Moore called her a "baldfaced liar" during closing arguments, but
Mrs. Reedy's lawyer commended her for taking the stand and admitting
that she did not know about the illegal content.
"Yes, you could call her naïve. You could call her foolish. You could
call her a lot of things," attorney Mike Heiskell told the nine-man,
three-woman jury. "But please, just because ... [the prosecutors] call
her a criminal, don't you call her a criminal."
Mr. Ball, the attorney for Mr. Reedy, asked the jurors not to base
their decisions on the proliferation of graphic images prosecutors
displayed.
He said many other people were at fault - including those providing
the content, the Internet providers and the banks that approved the
credit-card charges.
"This is a slippery slope, folks," he told the jury. "We have the
wrong people here. You want to say ... [the others] are the people
responsible, but you can't do that. But what you can do is say Thomas
Reedy ... Janice Reedy ... and Landslide is not guilty because
the government hasn't proved it."
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