James Cameron, a 50-year-old former narcotics prosecutor from Maine, removed his electronic monitoring bracelet and skipped town in November 2012 after a federal appellate court upheld his conviction on child pornography charges. Even though the federal appellate court overturned a few of the counts against him, Cameron still had to serve a significant amount of time in prison. Rather than face his sentence, Cameron jumped bail and left town on November 15, 2012. Cameron was finally captured in New Mexico and ordered to return back to Maine.
On March 15, 2007, Yahoo! began receiving complaints that the screen name for one of its users was showing images of child pornography. Yahoo! traced the screen name to Cameron's home in Maine and reported the information to the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit. The Maine State police executed a search warrant at Cameron's house. They found evidence showing that Cameron obtained and distributed more than 300 images of child pornography.
On August 23, 2010, a district court found Cameron guilty of thirteen counts related to child pornography. Cameron's actions were considered even worse in the eyes of the court since he used to be a top narcotics prosecutor in Maine. The judge ordered Cameron to serve 16 years in prison.
Cameron filed an appeal and requested a new trial. Cameron had already served a year of his sentence, but was able to get out of prison pending the appeal. While out of prison, Cameron had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
During his appeal, Cameron argued that the evidence used against him was illegally seized and should have been inadmissible in court. He also challenged the number of child pornography images linked to him during the criminal trial. The federal appellate court agreed that some of the evidence should have been inadmissible in court. Six of the convictions were subsequently overturned. The court decided that admission of the evidence did not affect the outcome for seven of the counts and upheld the conviction for them. Since convictions for seven of the counts weren't reversed, Cameron was still going to spend several years in prison.
Within hours of hearing the appellate court's decision, Cameron cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and disappeared. The authorities tracked him down in Albuquerque, New Mexico on December 2, 2012. Cameron obviously didn't want to go back to prison, but skipping town only made his situation worse. Now the punishment for escaping will be added to the time he already had to spend in prison for the child pornography charges. A federal judge in New Mexico ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to transport Cameron back to Maine so that he can be resentenced.
If you have been charged with a sex offense, contact a Maryland sex crimes lawyer. Schedule a consultation to discuss your case. An experienced attorney will thoroughly evaluate your case and help you reach the best resolution possible.
