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New Orleans Wiccan Priest Sentenced to 20 Years in Child Porn Case

By Ken Daley
The Times-Picayune
May 12, 2017

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2017/05/new_orleans_wiccan_priest_sent.html

New Orleans Wiccan priest and folk singer Kenneth 'Kenny' Klein, 62, was convicted April 6 on 20 counts of possession of child pornography. (Courtesy of Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office)

Kenneth "Kenny" Klein, the New Orleans Wiccan priest and folk singer convicted last month on 20 counts of child pornography charges, was sentenced Friday (May 12) to serve 20 years in prison.

Criminal District Judge Byron C. Williams imposed the sentence after first denying Klein's motion for a new trial. The judge said he had never before received so many letters both in support of and opposed to leniency for a defendant before a sentencing decision.

"Your partner talks about your kindness and others say you don't pose a threat to society," Williams said. "But just as many have negative things to say about you, calling you an objectionable human being, and a lot of people contend you are a monster.

"Healing and redemption are available to you right now, but will have to begin in the custody of the Department of Corrections. The unsuspecting victims of juvenile pornography also must be able to heal."

Klein, 62, was found guilty April 6 on one count of child pornography involving a juvenile under the age 13, and 19 counts of possession with intent to distribute pornography involving juveniles under the age 17. He faced 10 to 40 years in prison on the first count, and 5 to 20 years on each of the other 19 counts.

Williams imposed a 20-year sentence on the more severe count, and five-year sentences on each of the remaining 19 counts. The judge ordered all the sentences be served concurrently. He also fined Klein $2,500 and ordered that, upon release, he wear an electronic ankle monitor for the rest of his life.

"The court notes that you are a renowned artist, teacher and leader -- a high priest in the Wiccan community," Williams said. "And there are a number of people concerned because of your age and health."

Klein was arrested at his Carondelet Street residence in March 2014, after a Louisiana State Police raid on his Lower Garden District apartment uncovered a laptop computer containing 20 videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit activities that were being shared on a peer-to-peer network. A jury deliberated just over three hours before convicting Klein on all counts by an 11-1 vote.

The judge denied a post-conviction judgment of acquittal requested by Klein's defense attorney Bradley Phillips. Phillips said Klein will appeal his conviction with new representation.

Klein's motion for a new trial argued that Williams erred in two pre-trial rulings and with decisions made during his three-day trial last month. Jurors were allowed to hear testimony from two adults who said they were sexually abused - and made to sexually abuse each other - while they were children sometimes under Klein's care more than 25 years ago.

Klein also argued that the court erred in a ruling last Sept. 6, when Williams barred the defense from introducing evidence of alleged crimes or wrongdoing by "several police officers" involved in the case. And Klein said that during his trial, Williams wrongly sustained objections by prosecutors Zack Popovich and Arthur Mitchell that prevented his lawyers from providing jurors "the entire picture" of their theories regarding alternate suspects and motives in the case.

Williams said found no merit to the arguments.

The thrust of Phillips' defense was to suggest that Klein's ex-wife, Dr. Tzipora Katz, had somehow orchestrated the remote planting of the child porn videos on Klein's computer without his knowledge. Forensic computer examiners from the Louisiana State Police and the Louisiana Department of Justice testified there was no evidence that Klein's computer had been hacked, but did say the videos had been accessed and viewed only days before Klein's apartment was raided.

The trial marked the first time in District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's tenure of eight-plus years that his prosecutors showed child pornography to a New Orleans judge or jury. Jurors viewed nearly 35 minutes of the contraband, as prosecutors played 2- or 3-minute segments from each of the 20 illicit videos found on Klein's computer.

"Juries, especially in the criminal court, don't ever really know what exactly they will be presented with," Cannizzaro said. "This was a case in which they were subjected to some very disturbing matter."

Williams also noted the experience jurors endured viewing the videos in his courtroom.

"This was indeed a difficult case," the judge said. "Any type of incidents involving juveniles, particularly as it relates to child pornography, are not good."

 

 

 

 

 




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