Former Va. ACLU President Disbarred After Pleading Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

Charles Rust-Tierney, the former president of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, was disbarred today by the D.C. Court of Appeals.

On July 1, 2007, Rust-Tierney, 52, pleaded guilty to charges of receiving child pornography.

According to a Department of Justice news release, Rust-Tierney used his home computer to access child pornography Web sites on at least five occasions between March 2005 and October 2006. During a two-week span in January 2006, Rust-Tierney accessed more than 850 digital images and video files of child pornography. Many of these files showed children under the age of 12 being forced to engage in sexual acts with adult males, according to prosecutors.

Rust-Tierney was sentenced to seven years in federal prison on Sept. 7, 2007.

Today’s decision notes that Rust-Tierney consented to disbarment, which means the details of the ethical violations filed against him by the Board on Professional Responsibility remain sealed.

Comments

[Teresa Chen]

In Washington, one lawyer received a three year suspension for "five gross misdemeanors, which included two counts of indecent exposure (RCW 9A.88.010(1)), one count of stalking (RCW 9A.46.110), and two counts of communication with a minor for immoral purposes (RCW 9.68A.090)" - all counts regarding his stalking of 9-13 year old girls in order to expose himself to them and masturbate in front of them.

http://www.wsba.org/media/publications/barnews/sep08-discipline.htm

[Barry Cutler]

I think storing child porn should be a crime. I also understand and accept the theory about "enabling" those who produce this stuff for a willing audience. But am I the only one who thinks that in many of these cases that are popping up around the country the punishments are grossly disproportionate for the pathetic people who feel compelled to watch this stuff (in this case only 5 times), but take no further action? When we see what else it takes to get a 7-year federal sentence, there is something about the sentencing guidelines that needs another look in these cases.