Judge's Son Gets Zero Prison Time After Pleading Guilty To Child Pornography

Trigger Warning: This story contains details of a crime related to child pornography some readers may find disturbing.

A 34-year-old man who had been found guilty of possessing 25 counts of child pornography has walked away with an extremely smaller sentence because he happened to be a sitting judge's son. The incident occurred in Butler County, Pennsylvania where locals are alleging that John Paul Doerr III only received a six-month house arrest, five years of probation, and 15 years on Megan's Law registry because the accused's father was a powerful man in the community, reports WPXI-TV. Normally, the maximum sentence for a crime such as this easily goes up to more than 250 years in prison.

Reports suggest that Doerr's father is Thomas Doerr, a Butler County's president judge, who is said to be the driving factor behind the weak sentencing. Enraged by the court decision, dozens of people gathered outside the Butler County Courthouse on Friday, saying the father-son relationship was why he got away with absolutely zero jail time. Madison Morgan, one of the demonstrators in the Courthouse premises, said: "It’s not fair. He (could have) gotten 252 years behind bars, (but) instead, he got probation and house arrest. It’s because of who his father is." The 34-year-old was arrested after he confessed to downloading several videos, including a clip of a 1-2-year-old child. He was caught after investigators tracked him down through the IP address assigned to his computer.

Despite the community's protestations, Butler County officials have revealed that there was no wrongdoing in the case and that the sentencing has been fair. Speaking to Channel 11, the district attorney said the case was immediately handed over to the attorney general's office when the sensitive nature of the perpetrator's relationship with a sitting judge became apparent. No local judge heard the case, the official stressed. Meanwhile, the prosecutor who worked on the case has said this is a standard sentence, typical for these types of cases. According to ButlerEagle, Doerr was also fined $1,950 apart from being made part of the sex offender registry for 15 years while his internet access will be constantly monitored for two years.

The 34-year-old sex criminal was originally set to face 42 felony charges related to child pornography arising out of his arrest in January 2019. Soon after his arrest, Doerr had admitted to investigators that he downloaded pornographic video clips featuring children to his home computer. As per documents relating to the arrest, Doerr was arrested following an undercover investigation into the sharing the child pornography over the internet. He was given a plea deal after agreeing with prosecutors, who then agreed to six charges of photos or films involving child sex acts. In exchange for this, Doerr pleaded guilty to 35 counts of child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility, citing the PC he used to conduct the disgraceful act.

People on social media were outraged by the whole ordeal with plenty letting their displeasure known. Responding to the story on Twitter, Delaina Smith wrote: "That is bullsh*t to the highest power and again White Privilege @ it’s finest. Damn shame." While user Chris Haggart agreed with Smith's statement, he said it wasn't just white privilege. "Not white privilege, this decision comes as a result of a person in a position of power not because of the color of his skin. I agree it is bullsh*t." Cathy K expressed her suspicion on the sentence and wrote: "Doubt this is a "typical" sentence... I'm sure Daddy being a judge had a little something to do with it..." Another user, James Shoe, offered a rebuttal and said: "There’s no way daddy pulled any strings in this instance."