Suspect Weldon Marc Gilbert allowed to view child porn in Wash. jail/Sentenced to 35 yrs in prison

TACOMA, Washington (AP) — A legal loophole is allowing a Washington state man accused of child sex crimes to view child pornography in jail.
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Hummm... so he is representing himself and is viewing the material as evidence for his case. The purpose of a lawyer reviewing evidence is to become familiar with it, make sure it has not been falsified, etc, so if these are his videos/files there is no need for reviewing the material. Unless they are adding time to his sentence each time he views?

This makes my Blood boil! im speachless :jaw dropping:

:jaw dropping:

It sure got me. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Did I misread this? How can this be?? WTF??

TACOMA, Wash. -- A strange quirk in the law is allowing an accused child rapist to watch child pornography inside the Pierce County Jail.

Marc Gilbert is accused of sexually assaulting young boys and videotaping the abuse.

Under the law, defense attorneys are allowed to review material tied to the case. And because Gilbert has chosen to act as his own attorney, he has had unlimited access to the pornographic footage.

Therefore, the jail says it has no choice but to allow Gilbert to review the footage times over with no limits. Restricting his access would risk a mistrial.

Investigators seized from Gilbert's possession more than 100 DVDs containing 28 hours of pornographic footage. Some of the material was allegedly shot by the former jet pilot, and feature the young boys he's accused of luring to his home and exploiting.

The prosecutor and the sheriff say the results of the legal loophole are sickening in this case, but say the state Supreme Court has ruled in Gilbert's favor.

"Make no mistake -- I don't like it," said Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor. "But it is not my choice whether to do it or not to do it. There's no question that I don't like it. There's no question that this makes me grind my teeth."

"We don't like it. We don't want to do it, but we have to follow the law. The fix here is to change the law," said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.

To make sure no other inmates get a chance to see the pornography, Gilbert is made to review them in a separate room.

Child advocates say allowing the tapes to be viewed further victimizes the victims.

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If he is viewing them while acting as attorney, then WHY can't the number of times he views them be limited? I don't believe a defense atty would have the need to view them over and over. I think he should have to show a reasonable cause to view them at all since obviously he is familiar with them, and certainly there could be no reason to view multiple times. Why can't the court make a distinction and separation between the offender and the attorney. As stated above each viewing further victimizes the victims, so add time to his sentence for each viewing. Come on can't someone have common sense somewhere!

TACOMA, Wash. -- Accused serial child molester Marc Gilbert was sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison by a Pierce County judge Tuesday. And for the first time, investigators released photographs from inside a concealed room at Gilbert's Lake Tapps home where police say the children were molested.

The photographs released by police show boxes full of videotapes, spanking paddles and sports gear. On one wall, a bar is stocked with several bottles of alcohol. Nearby, a double bed was set next to a wall adorned with Super Mario Brothers wallpaper.

Prosecutors said Gilbert would get his victims drunk, which escalated to spanking and paddling them, and ultimately committing sex crimes on boys as young as 10 years old.

Gilbert's sentence came shortly after Pierce County Judge Katherine Stolz reluctantly allowed him to enter an Alford plea to 14 reduced counts of child molestation in the second and third degree. An Alford plea means Gilbert doesn't admit guilt, but believes there is enough evidence to convict him.

"It's time for this to end," Gilbert said. "I accept responsibility and the pain for everyone involved. I apologize."

During the sentencing, Stolz verbally lashed out at Gilbert, but was relieved a jury won't be forced to watch up to 226 hours of footage that Gilbert had recorded of the sexual assaults.

"He fits the classic profile of a predatory pedophile," Stolz told KOMO News after the sentencing. "And he'll remain that way until they hammer down the coffin lid."

Gilbert, a former pilot and a millionaire, drew national attention, when a judge ruled that because Gilbert was acting as his own attorney he would be allowed to watch the videos of the assaults from his jail cell because they were evidence in the trial.

"He will likely die in prison. That is not particularly a concern of mine," Stolz said.

Gilbert had already pleaded guilty in federal court to multiple counts of child pornography and transporting a minor across state lines for sexual activity and received a 25-year sentence. The 10-year state sentence handed down Tuesday will be served after Gilber completes the federal prison sentence.
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