Sex-crimes defendant can view child porn

July 15, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

TACOMA, Wash.

A Washington state man accused of child sex crimes is being allowed to view child pornography in the Pierce County Jail in preparation for his upcoming trial.

Sheriff Paul Pastor and Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist don’t like it, but the Washington State Supreme Court in 2007 ruled that defense attorneys are entitled to copies of child pornography that prosecutors plan to use as evidence against criminal defendants.

Weldon Marc Gilbert, of Lake Tapps, Minn., is acting as his own lawyer in his case, and that means he’s allowed to review the evidence, which includes more than 100 videos seized from his home after his arrest in 2007.

Gilbert is accused of using money, alcohol, and rides on his boat and helicopter to lure more than a dozen boys to his home, where they purportedly were paddled and molested.

Prosecutors contend Gilbert videotaped some of the alleged activity.

He is allowed to view the videos in a secure room in the jail. A private investigator he has hired to assist his defense sits with him, and corrections officers monitor the room, jail spokesman Ed Troyer said Wednesday.

“The whole thing is just very strange,” Troyer said.