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	Lawyer in Pornography Case Is Spared Jail By Alison Leigh Cowan New York Times December 18, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/nyregion/18porn.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Heaping blame on a church in Greenwich for trying to hide the fact that its longtime musical director had child pornography on a computer, a senior federal judge on Monday sentenced a lawyer who took part in the cover-up to home confinement for six months. "What could you have been thinking?" Judge Alan H. Nevas of Federal District Court said to the lawyer, Philip D. Russell, who took apart the computer and pulverized the hard drive days before federal agents came looking for it. The church, Christ Church, an Episcopal church, hired Mr. Russell, whose family worshiped there, as its lawyer in October 2006, shortly after an employee found images of naked boys on a laptop used by Robert F. Tate, its longtime musical director. Church officials, on the advice of Mr. Russell — a criminal lawyer and a former assistant district attorney in the Bronx — did not report the matter to law enforcement, allowing Mr. Tate to resign and remove items from his apartment on church grounds before leaving town. Nonetheless, federal investigators learned of Mr. Tate's departure on their own and found evidence that Mr. Tate had overlooked, including images of boys posing with whips, collars and other sado-masochistic objects. Mr. Tate, 65, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography and is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 31. He faces up to 10 years in prison. After the hearing, Eugene Riccio, a new lawyer for the church, said that until Monday's hearing church officials had no idea of the extent of Mr. Tate's crime. Judge Nevas said he had "never, ever seen" such a sexual abuse history as Mr. Tate's, "going back 30 years, involving trips overseas, and bringing child prostitutes" to the parish and church grounds. "It turns your stomach," he said. The judge chided Mr. Russell forgoing overboard in trying to help the church handle the problem internally. "They wanted it to go away," the judge said. Mr. Russell apologized "for what happened" and said, "It's my responsibility and no one else's." Initially charged with two counts of obstruction of justice, Mr. Russell, 49, pleaded guilty in September to essentially failing to report a felony, but he still faced the possibility of three years in prison. Although the judge said he was "deeply offended that a member of my profession could have acted so irresponsibly," he said Mr. Russell did not deserve prison in light of his "years of good service." For now, Mr. Russell has voluntarily relinquished his license to practice law.
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