Part of the information for this item comes from an article published by World Net Daily on 25 November, 2006. The rest of it comes from personal research by the author.

Andrew Douglas Reed, of Asheville, North Carolina, pleaded guilty on 1 November, 2006, to fifteen counts of “sexual exploitation of a minor.” The maximum sentence for those offenses was 81 years. He was given a 10-month sentence, and the ACLU was heavily involved in this appalling result.

Mr. Reed’s attorney is Bruce Elmore, Jr., who is also attorney for the ACLU in Buncombe County. He encouraged “community leaders” to write letters on behalf of “Andy Reed,” seeking a lighter sentence for him. Well, exactly what were the charges against Mr. Reed, this fine citizen in Asheville? He pled guilty to taking videos and still pictures of two other men as they raped several children, all seven years old or less. Then he distributed on the Internet those images of multiple rapes in multiple ways to men who have a taste for such garbage.

The men who actually raped the children are being separately tried. However, most people who have heard about the incredibly light sentence for Mr. Reed — 10 months rather than up to 81 years — are appalled. How did this happen?

The judge who handed down this sentence was Robert B Lewis, a retired judge who was specially assigned to hear the case by Chief Justice Sarah Parker of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. No reason has been publicly revealed why there was any reason to assign any judge to this matter other than those currently sitting on the trial court in Buncombe County.

Robert Lewis has described himself as a “hard-wired Democrat,” and has a record of going easy on sexual offenders. In short, it looks like Judge Reed was specifically selected to give a light sentence to this particular defendant, and that the ACLU was right in the middle of this grossly improper result.

The last part of this outrage is that on orders from the District Attorney, the Sheriff of Buncombe County had a protestor arrested for carrying a sign outside the Courthouse (after this trial was over) saying that “Bruce Elmore Protects Pedophiles.” This arrest should be thrown out on First Amendment grounds, and the ACLU has been asked to take the case. Since Elmore is the ACLU attorney, however, the local ACLU is rather unlikely to take this case.