Posted on 05/03/2009 5:11:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
FEDERAL COURT — War hero, activist, former high-ranking Pentagon official – Wade Sanders has led a life full of peril and achievement, of great highs and deep lows.
Just a few years ago, Sanders stood onstage at the Democratic National Convention as his fellow veteran, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., accepted his party's presidential nomination.
That was a high point.
Tomorrow afternoon in federal court in San Diego likely will be a low point for him.
Sanders, 69, is scheduled to be sentenced after pleading guilty in December to possession of child pornography.
He could face as much as 10 years in prison after federal agents found child pornography on several of his home computers.
Just as Sanders once stood behind Kerry, the senator is now standing behind him. In one of dozens of letters submitted on behalf of Sanders, Kerry urged U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan to weigh Sanders' record of service and community work when making a decision on sentencing.
The hearing promises to be dramatic, with more than 50 people lining up in support of Sanders. In addition to Kerry, they include former U.S. senator and war hero Max Cleland of Georgia, who headed the Veterans Administration under President Jimmy Carter.
Also offering support are former Rep. Lynn Schenk of San Diego, a lawyer and longtime friend of Sanders; and numerous retired Navy officers, friends and relatives of Sanders. Bernie Jones, the Opinion page editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune, where numerous commentaries by Sanders have been published over the years, also wrote a letter opposing a prison term.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alessandra Serano is seeking a 63-month sentence for Sanders, as well as a requirement that he register as a sex offender and be on 10 years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.
The case against Sanders started in October 2007, when an FBI agent went online to search for people sharing child pornography using a file-sharing computer network.
The agent entered a search term widely used by pornographers, and among the results returned was one that eventually linked to Sanders' home computer.
A few months later, FBI agents raided Sanders' San Diego home. In court papers, Serano said three computers seized in the raid had child pornography on them.
Sanders and his attorney, Knut Johnson, say that Sanders was downloading the images as part of a research project on the subject. In her court papers, Serano noted that at the time of the raid, Sanders never told this to FBI agents.
Serano also said no notes or other materials relating to a research project were found. In a meeting with prosecutors before he pleaded guilty, Sanders did produce three pages of handwritten notes that were undated, she said.
Sanders also is arguing that his work was a product of an obsessive-compulsive disorder he has developed. He claims it is a product of post-traumatic stress disorder, which he said is a crippling residue of his combat service.
Sanders was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart in his military career. He led a Swift boat on numerous missions in Vietnam, often coming under intense fire and harrowing circumstances.
In a 13-page statement to Whelan, Sanders talks at length about that experience and how it shaped him. “There is a part of me that died in Vietnam and now, for the first time in my life I am facing that reality,” it begins.
One symptom of PTSD is compulsive behavior, Johnson argued. He said Sanders became “obsessed about writing an article or otherwise uncovering the source of child pornography.”
In his letter, Kerry lauded Sanders' record in the war and after, when Sanders became a prominent advocate for veterans' causes.
“The Wade Sanders I know is someone who has always put love of country first,” Kerry wrote. “He's been an advocate for his friends, his fellow veterans, his state and his country.”
I was just doing research.
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You be the Judge.
an FBI agent went online to search for people sharing child pornography using a file-sharing computer network
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The Capitol could use the same treatment.
We owe it to the children, after all. Right?
The guy is a degenerate but his military service should be a mitigating factor
I have PTSD.
I dont collect pedophelia.
Wasn’t The Who’s Pete Townshend also a child porn “researcher”?
The Pete Townsend defense. He will have plenty of time to write that research piece.....in prison.
What a slimeball....with a sterling roster of Demon Rats standing behind him.
I don’t care if this guy was a war “hero” (c.f. Kerry) he’s a disgusting piece of excrement if he downloaded kiddie porn.
PTSD my sweet @$$!
Ummmmm, if this idiot was a friend of Bush, or Palin, do you think this would be breaking news on all the networks?
As a 12 year Navy vet who served 5 months in a combat zone, I fail to see how his service should be a mitigating factor.
The max, in general population.
Is this man’s wife named Bob?
Fry this SOB!
Try to imagine if this was Ollie North, how the left would scream for his blood.
The turncoat cowardly war protester and America-hating John Kerry is the absolute last “Vietnam Veteran” that should come to any veteran’s defense.
But I see the Dems lining up to defend a child molesting pervert. Figures. It’s in their party platform.
As a USAF veteran, I do not see any mitigating factor.
"Veteran Used In Kerry Photo-Op Convicted Of Child Porn"
It would be more accurate to say that Sanders was an attack dog willing to viciously smear any and all Kerry critics.
No SECDEF for you, porn boy.
They all claim to be researching a book. All of them. Bernie Ward, that guy from The Who, this dude. . .all these books being researched, but no one every publishes them.
I do not agree that his military service should be any kind of mitigating factor. There is some behavior that can’t be “mitigated.”
This should be national news and Senate inquiry should be made into how deeply John F Kerry was involved in the child porn. Big expose would work in almost any state other than MA, where he would probably get an award for child services.
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