Air Force captain court-martialed in computer pornography case.

KADENA Air Base, Japan - A captain assigned to the 18th Logistics Group has been sentenced to be dismissed from the Air Force after being convicted by a general court-martial of conduct unbecoming an officer and violating federal anti-child pornography statutes. Along with the dismissal - the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge - Capt. Anthony Russell was sentenced to three months confinement and ordered to pay $2,858 per month for three months.

Russell pled not guilty to all charges, which included obtaining and storing pornographic computer graphics - including child pornography - from the Internet. The captain elected to be tried by a panel of officers in a trial that convened May 30 1995. According to base legal officials, Russell used Air Force computers and telecommunications equipment to locate and download the graphics files from the Internet over a two-month period.

Officials said the captain is considered a computer expert and was the local area network administrator for the 18th LG.

During the four-day trial, prosecutors offered about 100 computer graphics into evidence, including four photographs a pediatrician confirmed depicted minors. Prosecutors also presented evidence showing how the captain used his office and home computers to "surf the Net" for sites containing pornographic computer image files. Other evidence at the trial indicated Russell would download images directly to his home computer or would use his office desktop computer to collect graphics and later copy them to his home computer.

The captain claimed he had stumbled across the graphics accidentally. However, computer experts from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Washington, D.C., showed how Russell had programmed his computers to seek out Internet sites with explicit names and file listings.

The captain's case will undergo an automatic review by the general court-martial convening authority. After this review, the case will receive an automatic review by the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. Russell's case may also be reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. After completion of the appellate review - if the conviction is not overturned and/or the dismissal portion of the sentence is not modified - Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall has to approve the dismissal before it is executed.


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