Free-lance journalist Larry Matthews has never denied trading some 160 pornographic images online, but he has also maintained it was part of his research on a project and protected, therefore, by the First Amendment. The 4thCircuit Court of Appeals has ruled otherwise - because at least some of it involved child porn.
The Silver Spring, Maryland journalist had pleaded guilty in 1998 after a federal judge rejected a First Amendment defense, and Matthews received eighteen months behind bars. 4th Circuit Court Judge Diana Motz ruled that distributing child porn "is a particularly egregious crime," and journalists are not exempt from the relevant laws.
Matthews received support from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, according to the Associated Press. The committee filed a brief arguing Matthews should have been granted a First Amendment defense.
