Judge deserved judgment for comments on child pornography

Imagine this: A man - any man - states in public that it is only out of "... natural impulse..." that an adult would possess hundreds of child pornographic photos. The eyebrows of those listening to that would rise as if tugged by an industrial pulley chain. Thoughts would range from, "This guy must have his own reserved parking spot at an adult trading post," to "Let's get the kids and run like hell!"

Now imagine this: A judge - any judge - states in a courtroom that it is only out of "... natural impulse ..." that an adult would possess hundreds of child pornographic photos. The eyebrows of those listening to that would rise as if tugged by an industrial pulley chain. Thoughts would range from, "This guy must have his own reserved parking spot at an adult trading post," to "Let's get the kids and run like hell!"

"These kinds of offenses (possession of child pornography and sexual predation) are problems with impulse control." This and other unbelievably disturbing statements made by Carson City District Judge William Maddox just moments before sentencing Jason Excell to a prison term for possessing an astounding collection of 800 images of child pornography are ones to stop airplanes in flight, the hands of clocks, and the breathing of all who live. In my view, the person who should have taken the stand in court right after (or before) Jason Excell is Maddox himself. Actually, an accelerated series of psycho-therapeutic analysis and treatment are highly in order.

In an unimaginable attempt to explain the frightening implications of his statement, the soon-to-be dishonorable Judge Maddox took the court on a terrible virtual tour of Sodom and Gomorrah as he implied that child pornography is wrong only by what lawful statutes permit. And did he stop there? Certainly not! He proceeded to dig a hole deep enough to hit the devil himself on the head with his shovel. Hey Uncle Billy, please tell us the bedtime story of how the big old giant in the beanstalk can have sex with any little underage girl he wants because it's OK in the land he rules because he makes the rules. And ... and ... please Uncle Billy, before we go beddy-byes, tell us why an adult male "... having sex with a girl between 12 and 16 is prohibited (only) because we (society) say it's prohibited." Oh boy! Yeah! We like that story!

His implication that adult males want to have sex with 12 year-old girls was that it was culturally acceptable in some countries. Obviously Uncle Billy, somebody's been looking at the picture of the naked little natives in National Geographic a wee bit too much. Whatcha think?

There were more sentences delivered in that courtroom of March 27 than just the prison sentence issued to Jason Excell. The other "sentences" were delivered from the mouth of a district judge - a person in whose hands of judgment we are to place our unconditional trust - and they were more injurious than any sentence of time to be served.

I have been told that many of the children pictured in Jason Excell's library of porn, being sexually brutalized or tangled up in intercourse with adults looked like they were about 6 years old. Six years old! I challenge anyone to find the most despicable bar in the country, filled with a bunch of guys spilling beer and ready to fall, and listen if you even hear one of them say that they wish they could have sex with a 6-year-old or a 12-year-old. Sexual predators and offenders aside, most people would shake their heads clear and clean for even thinking such thoughts - even the lowlifes. But it was a district judge who put those thoughts into words like some pseudo psychosexual professor; and he did it in a court of law and in the company of some sexual scavenger whom he had just sentenced to a prison term for personally owning more child pornography photos than most of the world's art museums have paintings on exhibit.

Yes, it took a judge to do that. Our judge ... Judge William Maddox. Judge? Well, let me be the "judge" of that. My thoughts to all of us in his company: "Get the kids and run like hell!"

• John DiMambro is publisher of the Appeal. Write to him at jdimambro@ nevadaappeal.com