Man who posted photos of war dead avoids prison with plea deal
Associated Press
01/13/06
LAKELAND, Fla. - A man who posted photos of bloody corpses of war dead on an Internet site agreed Friday to a plea deal that keeps him out of prison.
Christopher Wilson, 28, agreed to turn over the Web domain name to the Polk County Sheriff's Office and plead no contest to five counts of possession of obscene materials, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Under the agreement, the prosecution dropped one felony charge and 295 other misdemeanor counts. Wilson, who had been arrested on obscenity charges in October for operating the Web site, will not be classified a sex offender. His site also featured photos of naked people.
"It's the kind of case that's easy to resolve," State Attorney Jerry Hill said.
Wilson allegedly gave soldiers access to sexual photos and posted pictures of enemy war dead, apparently taken by U.S. servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He removed the sexual photos and videos from his Web site after he was told they posed a problem, Larry Walters, Wilson's lawyer, said in December.
An appeals court ordered Wilson's release from jail in December. Circuit Judge J. Dale Durrance had revoked Wilson's bail after deciding there was probable cause that pictures on the site could be obscene.
The prosecutors' goal was to shut the site down, Hill said. Wilson, a former Eagle Lake police officer, will be able to run the site until he is sentenced on April 21.
The nowthatsfuckedup.com domain name now belongs to the Polk County, FL Sheriff's Office
Wayback Machine search for www.nowthatsfuckedup.com
01/13/06
LAKELAND, Fla. - A man who posted photos of bloody corpses of war dead on an Internet site agreed Friday to a plea deal that keeps him out of prison.
Christopher Wilson, 28, agreed to turn over the Web domain name to the Polk County Sheriff's Office and plead no contest to five counts of possession of obscene materials, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Under the agreement, the prosecution dropped one felony charge and 295 other misdemeanor counts. Wilson, who had been arrested on obscenity charges in October for operating the Web site, will not be classified a sex offender. His site also featured photos of naked people.
"It's the kind of case that's easy to resolve," State Attorney Jerry Hill said.
Wilson allegedly gave soldiers access to sexual photos and posted pictures of enemy war dead, apparently taken by U.S. servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He removed the sexual photos and videos from his Web site after he was told they posed a problem, Larry Walters, Wilson's lawyer, said in December.
An appeals court ordered Wilson's release from jail in December. Circuit Judge J. Dale Durrance had revoked Wilson's bail after deciding there was probable cause that pictures on the site could be obscene.
The prosecutors' goal was to shut the site down, Hill said. Wilson, a former Eagle Lake police officer, will be able to run the site until he is sentenced on April 21.
The nowthatsfuckedup.com domain name now belongs to the Polk County, FL Sheriff's Office
Wayback Machine search for www.nowthatsfuckedup.com
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