6 years for pornographer

A former contestant on the hit singing show "American Idol" was sentenced Thursday to serve six years in federal prison for videotaping sexual encounters with teenage girls.

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson told 28-year-old Daniel James "DJ" Boyd that given today's serious attitude toward sexual offenses, Boyd picked the wrong crime to commit them.

Although Benson said he felt that Boyd did not deserve to serve the maximum sentence of 10 years, he felt a message needed to be sent to the public that having sex with underage minors will not be tolerated.

Boyd was indicted in July of last year, on charges of production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. He was arrested a month earlier in West Valley City, accused of having sex with two girls, ages 14 and 15. Some of those encounters were videotaped and prosecutors alleged that alcohol was given to the girls.

Benson said he had reviewed the videos and concluded that this was a young man, with a lot going for him, who made a stupid mistake.

Boyd was a semifinalist on "American Idol" in 2004. Since then he had been pushing a new album of pop/hip-hop songs on his myspace.com page.

Boyd's attorney Ron Yengich said his client was there to take full responsibility for his actions. "The only reason Mr. Boyd is here today is for what he did," Yengich said.

As a large group of friends and family members looked on from the audience, Boyd offered apologies to his victims and their families as well as his family for putting them through such hardship.

"I take full responsibility for my actions," Boyd said. "I was the adult in this matter."

Benson sentenced Boyd to six years in prison with a chance that he could be released to a halfway house six months early. Benson ordered Boyd be placed on 10 years supervised release, undergo sex offender treatment after his release. He also ordered Boyd to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18, not to possess sexually explicit material, not to consume alcohol and to have his Internet access restricted.

Benson advised Boyd to use the years in prison to turn his life around and put his past mistakes behind him.

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