Bristol Herald Courier Sports Editor Convicted on Charge of Receiving Child Pornography
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Published: September 15, 2009
Jim Cnockaert
Jim Cnockaert, the sports editor of the Bristol Herald Courier, was convicted Monday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont., of receiving child pornography and must serve a minimum of five years in prison.
Cnockaert is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 17 before U.S. Judge Donald W. Molloy, who convicted Cnockaert from the bench in a summary judgment following a one-day trial.
Cnockaert?s attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Dave Merchant, said the verdict ?shocked? and ?totally stunned? him. ?Most of my clients are guilty,? he said. ?There?s nothing here.?
The 54-year-old Cnockaert, who joined the Herald Courier in August 2008, was released on the same probationary conditions he has been under since his indictment April 14.
He faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and up to 20 years, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervision.
The investigation was by the Bozeman Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation after Cnockaert?s former employer, the Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle, accused him of viewing child pornography on a work computer. Confronted by Publisher and President Stephanie Pressly and Managing Editor Nick Ehli, Cnockaert admitted an addiction to pornography but was referring to adult pornography, Merchant said.
Pressly, Ehli and the U.S. Attorney?s Office in Montana could not be reached for comment Monday evening.
Cnockaert?s admission was viewed as a confession by the judge, Merchant said, and was the sole basis for the verdict after two government forensics experts testified there was no evidence Cnockaert manipulated any child pornography images found on his home computer. The images were found in the cached and unallocated space on a reconditioned hard drive and could have been installed on Cnockaert?s computer, his attorney said.
?I don?t think the government proved anything, and I?m just totally stunned,? said Merchant, adding he has tried about 25 child pornography cases in the past four years. ?In my heart, I don?t believe he looked at these pictures. ... I think he?s gotten caught up in the witch hunt against child porn.?
Merchant said he has 10 days from Cnockaert?s Dec. 17 sentencing to file a notice of appeal. Such rulings are rarely overturned, he conceded.
?I?ve never found a speeding ticket on this dude [Cnockaert]. There is nothing on him. The government had no proof,? Merchant said.
Cnockaert said before leaving for Montana last week that the government had offered him a plea deal to a lesser offense that involved no mandatory jail time but that he rejected it because he is innocent. His attorney spoke for him Monday night by telephone.
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