Lee lawyer, prosecutors argue exhibits for child porn trial

Christopher Lee’s lawyer and the U.S. attorney prosecuting him have different ideas about what his jury needs to see.

Former Harris Township supervisor and one-time CEO of Boal Mansion and Columbus Chapel in Boalsburg, Lee is headed to trial on March 7 in Williamsport after his October 2014 arrest on charges of use of facilities in interstate commerce to coerce and entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity, transportation of a minor with the intent to engage in sexual activity and receipt and possession of child pornography.

Lee’s case has been delayed for more than a year, with the federal prosecutors adding charges of production of child pornography and tampering with evidence in March 2015 and more related charges in September.

The case has been split into separate trials after Lee’s attorney, Kyle Rude, successfully argued to U.S. Judge Matthew Brann that the porn case could unfairly bias the jury regarding the enticing and transportation charges.

The impending trial will deal only with the receipt, production and possession of child pornography and the tampering with evidence charges.

In documents filed Friday, Rude asked for another concession. He doesn’t want the jury to see all of the prosecution’s exhibits regarding the production of child porn charge.

According to court documents, the exhibits in question are stories, described as “sexually explicit” or “sexually graphic,” which were in Word documents on a portable hard drive seized from Lee’s bedroom. The text was illustrated with images of photographs cropped to focus on genital areas.

Rude argued that without the photographs, the text is not pornography and that submitting the full document “is designed only to inflame the jury.”

The prosecution shot back with a motion filed on Sunday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith Taylor said the stories in question range from 12 pages to as long as 60 pages, some with more than 100 images attached to them.

“Of all those, the United States has selected only a few pages and a few images to submit to the jury,” Taylor wrote, saying the prosecution had already significantly redacted the material it was producing in court.

She called the images and video “intrinsic to the manner in which Lee created and produced and used the child pornography.”

Brann issued an order Monday saying that he would review the documents in his chamber with an FBI agent in custody of the material before making a ruling.

A jury will be selected before the start of the March 7 trial. A four-day trial was planned in Brann’s scheduling order.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 8:58 PM with the headline "Lee lawyer, prosecutors argue exhibits for child porn trial."