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October 01, 2005
NJ Judge Found Guilty Of Child Exploitation
CAMDEN, N.J. -- A federal jury on Friday convicted a former state judge of traveling to Russia to have sex with a teenage boy but said insanity led the Vietnam veteran to acquire a collection of child pornography.
Judge Stephen Thompson was found guilty of exploitation of a child and found not guilty by reason of insanity for possession of child pornography, said Greg Reinert, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
Thompson, 59, is being held at a federal detention center in Philadelphia. He is expected to be moved to a North Carolina facility where he will undergo psychiatric evaluation required of the insanity decision, Reinert said.
No sentencing date was set.
Thompson retired as a Superior Court Judge in Camden after he was charged with possession of child pornography in 2003.
He did not deny going to Russia in 2002, having a sexual encounter with a teenage boy and videotaping it. But his lawyers argued that he should be cleared because he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after losing his right leg and genitals in a friendly fire incident in Vietnam in 1969.
During a trial that lasted more than two weeks, jurors were shown portions of the video Thompson made in St. Petersburg, as well as hundreds of images of child pornography taken from his homes in Haddon Township and Avalon.
The trial relied heavily on testimony from experts on post-traumatic stress disorder.
Thompson did not take the witness stand.
During his 14 years as a judge, Thompson sometimes presided over cases of sexual abuse of children.
Posted by Nealus at October 1, 2005 02:39 PM
