Attorney wants OK to view porn sites

Orem attorney Andrew McCullough says that in order to effectively defend a man accused of possessing child pornography he must be given free rein to research exactly what constitutes child pornography.

The state Attorney General's Office disagrees and McCullough wants a judge to weigh in on the issue.

McCullough filed a request Wednesday in 3rd District Court asking for permission to look at potentially pornographic Web sites for the sole purpose of representing his client. The request seeks protection against criminal prosecution for the "legitimate legal research."

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Utah County Attorney Carlyle Bryson are named as defendants in the suit.

According to court documents, McCullough is "in fear that if he zealously represents his client, as required by the Utah Code of Professional Responsibility, he may be risking criminal charges" to be filed by either Shurtleff or Bryson.

Craig Barlow, the attorney general's children's justice division chief, said he sees no reason why McCullough would need to view child pornography to properly defend his client.

"He's essentially asking to be given a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card for the possession of child porn, just because of his profession. There's certainly no mention of that kind of exception in the statute," Barlow said.

McCullough's client is charged in Carbon County's 7th District Court with seven felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. The man is accused of photographing underage girls nude or partially nude, as well as downloading pornographic images from the Internet.

Upon his request, the Attorney General's Office provided McCullough with some of the pictures in question, but the attorney says it is not enough for him to adequately defend his client. Further, he said, the photos were of poor quality.

However, when McCullough requested more and better copies of the photos, he said he was denied and told he would be guilty of the same crime as his client.

"That's simply unacceptable," McCullough said. "I must have the right to protect my client without the attorney general telling me 'Well, you could be next.' I can't have them looking over my shoulder like that."

McCullough believes at least some of the photos do not constitute child porn and says additional research is necessary to obtain the proof necessary to clear his client.