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May 7, 2008 6:14 pm US/Pacific
Bernie Ward To Plead Guilty To Child Porn Charges
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / BCN) ―
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Ex-KGO Radio talker Bernie Ward.
KGO Radio
Former San Francisco radio personality and talk show host Bernie Ward will reportedly change his plea on child pornography charges to guilty at a federal court hearing on Thursday.
KGO Radio, Ward's ex-employer, quoted a source close to him on Wednesday as indicating that a guilty plea would occur.
Defense attorney Doron Weinberg confirmed that Ward, 57, is expected to change his previous not-guilty plea at Thursday's session before U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker.
But Weinberg declined to say to which charges Ward will plead and whether he will plead guilty or no contest. Ward's trial is currently set for June 9.
Ward, a former Catholic priest who is married with four children, was fired from KGO-AM after being indicted by a federal grand jury late last year for two counts of distributing child pornography and one count of receiving child porn.
An Oakdale police report previously made public alleged that Ward chatted online sexually with a Stanislaus County dominatrix and sent her child pornography in 2004.
In plea agreements, defendants sometimes plead guilty to fewer charges or lesser charges than those originally filed.
A no-contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea for sentencing purposes, but can't be used as an admission of guilt in a civil lawsuit.
Last month, Ward asked a judge to allow a First Amendment defense in which he would argue at trial that he had "a legitimate, journalistic purpose" for his actions in obtaining child pornography.
But prosecutors objected on the grounds that it would invite everyone charged with child pornography offenses the same defense.
Weinberg has said the case against Ward stemmed from an "error of judgment" made by his client while doing research for a book on hypocrisy.
Ward previously hosted a nighttime show on KGO Monday through Friday and a Sunday morning show called Godtalk.
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