Child porn nets 10-year term

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A Kaua'i man who amassed more that 58,000 still pictures and 3,000 movies of child pornography was sentenced yesterday to a mandatory 10-year prison term for having what federal officials believe was the most extensive collection of its kind ever discovered in Hawai'i.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra told Martin Finer, 60, that if judges were not constrained by federal sentencing laws he would likely have imposed a much stiffer sentence.

Finer, formerly of Kapa'a, pleaded guilty in July 2003 to a felony charge of possessing child pornography and to a second felony charge of using the Internet to advertise his efforts to swap child pornography images with others.

Ezra said he did not view the images collected by Finer but has seen those associated with other cases and found them to be "despicable, nauseating and heart-breaking" because they rob the children involved of their innocence.

"It's a very corrosive crime because it attacks the fundamental right of children to live wholesome, decent lives ... " Ezra said.

He said Finer "had more than a casual interest in child pornography" and said "the defendant was not only a part of the market, he was a part of the distribution network as well."

"If I had my druthers, you would be serving a 20-year sentence, not 10 years, without parole," Ezra said. "I am so concerned about recidivism and addiction and the sordid nature of what you did I find it hard to believe that even after 10 years you will be ready to return to society."

Federal Deputy Public Defender Michael Weight told Ezra that Finer "denied for a long time that he had a problem."

But since his arrest in July 2002, Finer has "been forthright with law-enforcement officers, cooperated fully and has come to grips with his problem," Weight said.

He asked Ezra to recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that Finer be sent to a facility in Butner, N.C., so he can be treated for his addition to child pornography, and Ezra agreed.

Finer said little about his situation.

"I am sorry for what I did and for what I did to my family," Finer said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Tong said outside the courtroom that investigators do not believe any of the children depicted in the pornographic images collected by Finer are from Hawai'i. He said Finer was convicted in Massachusetts in 1964 and again in 1982 of "offenses involving children" but Tong said he could not divulge the specifics of those cases.

He described Finer's child pornography holdings as "the largest collection of its kind in Hawai'i."

Tong said Finer distributed his images to collectors across the country by using a computer "file server."

He said Finer would converse in "chatrooms" and would post notices that he was willing to upload pornographic images to others who were willing to share their collections with him.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.