November 14, 2014 at 4:36 p.m.
Prosecutor defends charges against Chagnon
Prosecutor defends charges against Chagnon
That word: "data."
Last month, the sex offender, Albert Chagnon, was charged with violating a law that authorities say prohibits registered sex offenders from storing photographs of minors without the written consent of the minor's parent, legal custodian or guardian.
Chagnon, formerly of Rhinelander, is alleged to have collected the girls' photos while an inmate at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution. According to the criminal complaint against him, he removed the photos from The Lakeland Times, to which he subscribed in prison, and other publications. (Chagnon has since canceled his subscription.)
The criminal complaint says Chagnon pasted the photos into a booklet, which is smaller than a passport, and added sexually explicit commentary, names and ages of the girls, and in some instances, the names of their parents.
The law from which the felony charges derive makes it illegal for a sex offender to intentionally capture a representation of a minor without the written consent of that minor's parent or legal guardian. The term "capture a representation" is defined by statute and means "takes a photograph, makes a motion picture, videotape, or other visual representation, or records or stores in any medium data that represents a visual image." Law enforcement officials have said the last part of that definition applies because Chagnon stored the photos.
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Hearing
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But his defense attorney, Raymond Edelstein, has said the statute applies only when a sex offender actually takes a photograph or video, or digitally stores an image. Edelstein claimed the state Legislature sought to restrict the digitization of images because they are so easy to share on the Internet.
The hard-copy images Chagnon allegedly compiled are not "data," Edelstein said, because they were not digitized. Consequently, he filed a motion earlier this week to dismiss the 23 felony charges on the grounds that Chagnon's alleged conduct was not actually illegal.
The prosecution, however, disagrees. In court papers filed Thursday, Winnebago County Deputy District Attorney Scott Ceman wrote Edelstein's argument defies common sense. Nowhere in applicable state statutes did the Legislature restrict the meaning of "data" to digital material, Ceman wrote.
"The medium chosen by the defendant to record or store the individual information (data), in the forms of photographs of children, was the cataloging of their photographs and identifying information in a notebook," Ceman wrote. "This is clearly the type of prohibited storing of photographs of children contemplated by the legislature. Any other limited definition would defy a common-sense reading of the statute."
Ceman cited several dictionary definitions that define "data" to basically mean "information," and he noted that the word "data" originated in the 1600s -- "long before the digital era," he wrote.
Moreover, Edelstein did not reference any authority for defining "data" to require a digital element, Ceman asserted.
"It is contrary to the law for a sex offender to store images of children without parental consent," and that is the conduct the Legislature sought to prohibit, Ceman wrote.
In addition to the 23 felony charges, Chagnon faces four misdemeanor charges of violating prison policy.
If convicted on all counts, Chagnon could be sentenced to a maximum of nearly 181 years in prison and a $232,000 fine, though he could cut a plea deal with a shorter prison term. More charges are also possible.
The case is being prosecuted in Winnebago County because that's where the illegal conduct is alleged to have occurred.
A judge is scheduled to hear arguments on the motion Monday.
Jonathan Anderson may be reached at [email protected]
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