A state's lenient stance on child pornographers

Colorado state law does not require a mandatory prison sentence for people found guilty of creating child pornography

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," September 22, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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O'REILLY: Thanks for staying with us. I'm Bill O'Reilly.

In the "Unresolved Problems" segment tonight, child pornography. Because of the Net, it's exploding worldwide. Perverts and pictures of children being raped and molested all over the world.

If you're caught in the U.S.A. with those kinds of pictures, the federal law mandates you get a minimum of five years in prison. If you create the child pornography, take the picture, you get a minimum of 15 years.

However, states are not bound by federal law. Enter Colorado, already considered to be one of the most libertine states in the Union, with legalized pot, awarded down Jessica's Law, and child pornography laws that do not --

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-- require prison time. Recently, this man, 69-year-old, Timothy Robinson, convicted of possessing thousands of images, thousands, of children being sexually assaulted.

The D.A. asked for prison time. But Judge Kurt Horton gave him probation and three years in a halfway house.

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Joining us now from Houston, Nicole Deborde, former sex crimes prosecutor. And from Atlanta, Dan Conaway, criminal defense attorney.

All right, Mr. Canoway, you know, since you handled the perpetrator side of things, it is inexplicable to me that a judge would not put this man in prison. What say you.

DAN CONAWAY, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, looking at it from both sides, the judge probably felt that, perhaps he was too old or perhaps he was too --

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-- sick or something like that. However, looking at it from the prosecutor's side, there are some strong arguments and I'm wondering what happened to those arguments because, as a former prosecutor, if I had been the prosecutor in this case, I would've been really jumping up and down --

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-- with the judge about the fact that these images, apparently, contained images of child rape, --

O'REILLY: The judge knew exactly what --

CONAWAY: -- and other types of child torture.

O'REILLY: No, no, no. The prosecution made its case. He was convicted -- and the judge knew exactly, for every picture, for every child in a picture, one life is ruined.

That child's life is ruined. And this guy had thousands of them and he was sending them out. He wasn't just keeping them in his closet, --

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-- all right. So, he walks. He's now, you know, at a halfway house.

CONAWAY: That would be distribution. That would be distribution --

O'REILLY: We know that it was pled down -- right, all right, but morally speaking, this judge, I don't know how he can go home and put his head on a pillow. What do you say, Ms. Deborde.

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NICOLE DEBORDE, FORMER SEX CRIME PROSECUTOR: I like it that the judges have discretion about what to do in each individual case.

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There are circumstances that we don't know about concerning this individual's health and --

O'REILLY: Not according to the prosecutor.

DEBORDE: -- concerning about how he got the images.

O'REILLY: Not according to the prosecutor. It's straight cut down the line. And they didn't even bring in the guy's previous arrest.

It wasn't even allowed in. So, there's not stuff we don't know about here, according to prosecutor. Go ahead.

DEBORDE: Well, there's a complete story and we don't have the complete story. We don't have the benefit of being in the courtroom and understanding all about the parties involved.

And, in this case, the judge had that discretion. And this person hasn't gotten away without punishment. He is going to be a --

O'REILLY: Awww.

DEBORDE: -- convicted sex offender for the rest of his life. He's going to be a registered sex offender.

O'REILLY: I'm sorry, I've go to reject this --

DEBORDE: He's going to be on probation and closely monitored.

O'REILLY: I've got to reject this with all due respect. We chased down judges in Montana, got him thrown off the bench. Chased another guy down Vermont -- these are judges, got him thrown off the bench, OK.

These guys, they don't care. They don't care. We know what happened. This guy is a heinous criminal, this guy, with thousands of images. He should never again see the light of day, --

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-- ever again. Zero tolerance for this. He doesn't go to a halfway house and order in pizza.

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I'm surprised at both of you. This is morally-outrageous. This judge Horton --

DEBORDE: I don't think anyone is saying it's not outrageous.

CONAWAY: Yes, nobody is saying it's not outrageous or that it's not immoral.

O'REILLY: Well, then, why do you happen to defend this judges' discretion. What is this. Go ahead.

DEBORDE: There's treatment. These people can get treatment --

O'REILLY: Treatment.

DEBORDE: -- and they could be monitored tightly by the government --

O'REILLY: All right.

DEBORDE: -- to make sure that they don't have access to the material or to children.

O'REILLY: Treatment, OK, good. Mr. Conaway, last word, go.

CONAWAY: There's a balancing act here. And that is, we don't want one-size-fits-all justice, which is why I am against mandatory minimums.

At the same time, when you get into these large collectors, meaning people that collect tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of child pornography, these people generally do go to prison.

And, in my personal opinion, when you are a true collector of child pornography, you should do prison time if the amount --

O'REILLY: That is it. If I were the judge, this guy never again will get out of prison, ever again. Thank you, both.

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