Pornography case lands man 4 years in prison

PALMER — A former Anchorage Police officer accused of possessing child pornography pleaded to three lesser counts this afternoon, but faces four years in prison and a lifetime as a registered sex offender.

Bryan Herrera was caught with a laptop computer connected to the Internet while he was on parole for similar charges in 2007. A forensic search of the computer found traces of illicit images.

Over months of pretrial hearings, Herrera’s defense attorney argued the state could not prove anything more than fleeting possession of the images. A recent appeals case determined simply viewing child pornography is not a crime in the state of Alaska.

The assistant district attorney disagreed, saying the traces on the computer proved Herrera had “dominion and control” over the images. The judge agreed and allowed the case to go to trial.

But before the trial started, the two sides came to the plea agreement entered today.

The prosecutor acknowledged the difficulties of the case, saying the appeals court ruling left the door open for Herrera to file his own appeal before the Alaska State Legislature can pass the changes to the law currently in the works. Knocking the charges from possession to attempted possession reduces the crime from a felony to misdemeanor, but the agreement is for the maximum sentence and lifetime registration on the national sex offender list.

The judge accepted the plea, giving Herrera the one-year maximum for each of the three counts. An additional year in prison was added for Herrera’s violation of parole.

For the complete story, see Friday’s edition of the Frontiersman.