rem16
05-08-2008, 09:22 PM
(05-08) 15:02 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Bernie Ward, a prominent radio talk show host and reporter in the Bay Area for more than two decades, admitted today to distributing child pornography in a plea deal that will send him to federal prison for at least five years.
Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker was prepared to accept Ward's guilty plea at a hearing in San Francisco to one count of distributing child pornography, but agreed to hold off at the request of Ward's attorney, Doron Weinberg. Had the guilty plea been officially submitted today, Ward could have been sent to prison immediately.
Instead, Ward is to be sentenced Aug. 28. Weinberg said federal prosecutors intend to ask Walker to send the former talk show host to prison for nine years. Under federal law, the minimum term Ward could receive is five years.
As part of the plea agreement, two other child pornography counts against Ward will be dropped.
Ward, 57, has admitted that he downloaded and sent pornographic images of children on the Internet in 2004, but said he had been doing research for a book. Federal law, however, prohibits receipt, possession and distribution of child pornography regardless of intent.
A former Roman Catholic priest, Ward was known for his outspoken liberal views on a weeknight talk show on KGO AM 810, where he had worked since 1985. He also hosted "God Talk," a Sunday morning program on religion.
The station fired him in December, three weeks after his federal grand jury indictment was unsealed. Since the indictment, Ward has been confined to his home, with electronic monitoring, as a condition of $250,000 bail, and has been allowed to leave only for work, to drive his children to and from school and to go to
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/08/BAIR10J9JC.DTL&feed=rss.news
Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker was prepared to accept Ward's guilty plea at a hearing in San Francisco to one count of distributing child pornography, but agreed to hold off at the request of Ward's attorney, Doron Weinberg. Had the guilty plea been officially submitted today, Ward could have been sent to prison immediately.
Instead, Ward is to be sentenced Aug. 28. Weinberg said federal prosecutors intend to ask Walker to send the former talk show host to prison for nine years. Under federal law, the minimum term Ward could receive is five years.
As part of the plea agreement, two other child pornography counts against Ward will be dropped.
Ward, 57, has admitted that he downloaded and sent pornographic images of children on the Internet in 2004, but said he had been doing research for a book. Federal law, however, prohibits receipt, possession and distribution of child pornography regardless of intent.
A former Roman Catholic priest, Ward was known for his outspoken liberal views on a weeknight talk show on KGO AM 810, where he had worked since 1985. He also hosted "God Talk," a Sunday morning program on religion.
The station fired him in December, three weeks after his federal grand jury indictment was unsealed. Since the indictment, Ward has been confined to his home, with electronic monitoring, as a condition of $250,000 bail, and has been allowed to leave only for work, to drive his children to and from school and to go to
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/08/BAIR10J9JC.DTL&feed=rss.news