Yale University geochemist Antonio Lasaga's sentencing will be reviewed despite his child porn conviction being upheld by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, the New York Times reported May 13. A new sentencing hearing date has not yet been set.
The circuit court on May 2 ordered a lower federal court resentence Lasaga, who pleaded guilty to downloading over 150,000 child porn images on his home and campus computers – which his attorney argued were "virtual" images, meaning no actual children had been used in their making – and owning two videotapes showing his own sexual activities with a child, activities that prompted him to plead no contest to state charges of raping a boy he mentored and filming it, the Times said.
Lasaga had been sentenced to 15 years in prison in February for the image and video possession and 20 years for the child rape charge, with the sentences to be served concurrently, the paper continued. But his attorney appealed on the basis that the sentences were longer than the 9-11 years federal guidelines recommended, the paper said.
The government argued that the virtual image distinction didn't figure in either the charges or Lasaga's plea, the Times said.
Lasaga is now in federal prison in Maryland. The government told the Times it hasn't decided whether to ask for another hearing before the appeals court in the case, saying Lasaga could "still be sentenced at the top of the range to 14 instead of 15 years,"
