Edgartown District Court Judge Benjamin Barnes rejected a plea bargain from Shawn Trieschmann, who is accused of child pornography possession, on Monday, and indicated he would largely adopt the prosecution’s harsher recommendation on the case, which included jail time. Trieschmann’s attorney, Peter Elikann, subsequently withdrew the plea. Elikann had asked for two years probation for his client, no unsupervised contact with anybody under 18 years old, and continued counseling, among other things. Assistant District Attorney Martin Kelliher requested 2½ years in the house of correction, with six months to serve and the balance suspended for five years. ADA Kelliher also asked that Trieschmann have no contact, supervised or not, with people under 18 years old, and that he keep away from schools and playgrounds, among other things.
Ahead of Judge Barnes’ ruling, which was prefaced by a clear notice Trieschmann could withdraw his plea if the thrust of it was different than what his attorney recommended, ADA Kelliher gave a statement of facts that included the allegation State Police, upon executing a search warrant, found videos on electronic devices belonging to Trieschmann that held child pornography. Kelliher more specifically told court that videos were discovered of children as young as toddlers in sordid situations with adults.
“Absolutely nothing that’s said now is going to minimize or excuse what’s essentially inexcusable,” Elikann said.
Nonetheless Elikann told the court Trieschmann has undergone extensive treatment, counseling, and evaluation. He said the evaluation found Trieschmann wasn’t suffering from pedophiliaic or antisocial behavior, and that Trieschmann dated in an “age-appropriate” manner. Elikann said Trieschmann was deemed a “low risk” to reoffend. Elikann also noted that Trieschmann was cooperative with police from the get-go, and that he has an otherwise clean record. He said the child pornography was a “very small portion” of the pornography Trieschmann looked at, and that he had browsed such content during a period of severe cocaine addiction.
One element of the prosecution’s recommendation Judge Barnes amended was the contact stipulation. Judge Barnes ruled there would be no unsupervised contact with people under the age of 16.
After Trieschmann’s plea was withdrawn, another court date was set for Oct 7.
