CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A 26-year-old Virginia man with previous ties to Corpus Christi was convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material after a jury rejected his defense that autism prevented him from understanding the illegality of his actions.
Anthony ____ was found guilty following a three-day trial and approximately nine hours of jury deliberation, U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei announced.
The investigation began in October 2023 when authorities discovered Anthony had been engaging in activity involving images and videos depicting child sexual abuse material. Law enforcement executed a search warrant at his residence and seized his electronic devices.
A physical search of his cellphone resulted in the discovery of several pornographic images. Anthony admitted he downloaded child pornography on his phone over a few months and that there were at least five images of child pornography on his device.
Forensic analysis revealed approximately 500 images and videos depicting child sexual …
I do agree that the Autism Defense does not excuse him for crimes. That being said facing up to 20 years is excessive and a waste of our resources when treatment is what he needs and only a fraction of the cost and time.
Now Autism is a form of insanity. Hell I must be insane I believe sex offense laws have become so draconian and have zero sense based in reality.
Someone with spectrum disorders having legal counsel talk you into going with the insanity defence was incredibly dumb. You can still be “insane” and still make a conscience choice made on the information available to you with limited worldview and experience. However, high-functioning Austists actually have difficulty discerning “risk vs reward”, boundaries and social norms. It’s not about understaning the differnce between “right or wrong,” it’s about “it’s on the Internet, so it must be legal” in their minds.
Why is this a federal case if his offense only involved possession? Seems like he should’ve been prosecuted under Texas law, unless his activities involved more than possession such as distribution