Criminal Procedure
Fed. Judge Says Jurors Should’ve Weighed Sentence in Kiddie Porn Case
Posted Apr 9, 2008, 12:02 pm CDT
By Molly McDonough
Prosecutors vowed to appeal a child pornography sentencing that's sure to raise eyebrows in New York's legal community.
U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein was supposed to sentence pizza-maker Pietro Polizzi to a mandatory minimum of five years for downloading thousands of child porn images. Instead, Weinstein tossed out the harsher charge and sentenced Polizzi to one year and one day, the New York Daily News reports.
Weinstein justified the move by saying that he erred in not letting jurors consider the length of time Polizzi would serve in prison if convicted. Despite a "mountain of caselaw" against informing juries of potential sentences so they can focus on the facts of a case, Weinstein reportedly ruled that sentence considerations were important in this case because Polizzi, a 54-year-old father of five, had been raped as a child.
The New York Post reports that after jurors convicted Polizzi, Judge Weinstein polled the panel and asked them if they would have convicted had they known the severity of the sentence. Many reportedly said no and thought Polizzi, who claimed to be downloading porn to research his past, should get treatment, not prison time.
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