A federal judge on Monday afternoon sentenced a Cleveland, Tn., man to 31 months less time than recommended by the prosecution on a child pornography case.
Judge Sandy Mattice sentenced Neil Mulder to serve 66 months - a departure down from the sentencing range of 78-97 months.
Gianna Maio of the federal defender's office asked 60 months, saying Mulder has turned his life around and was always a viewer and not a threat to molest children. Prosecutor Terra Bay, saying Mulder has been looking at child pornography dating back to 2002, and said he should get the maximum 97 months.
She said children depicted in the videos "get victimized over and over" with each viewing.
Prosecutor Bay said most of the child pornography activity now is on the Internet on the peer to peer network. She said, "It allows access to child pornography so much faster and it's much harder to detect. It's like a turbo boost from what you used to have."
Mulder told the judge he has got close to God and reads his Bible frequently. He said, "What I did was absolutely horrible. I was out of control. I hurt a lot of people."
At one point, he turned to look at his angry ex-wife, who said, "Don't look at me."
As he was led from the courtroom, she yelled, "You'll never see your kids again."
Mulder told the judge his neck and back hurt and he is not getting his pain medication at the Bradley County Jail.
After he serves his time, Mulder will be on supervised release for 10 years and he will not be allowed to be with children under 18. He will be on the Sex Offender Registry.