FSTDT

Christopher Young #conspiracy abajournal.com

A Louisiana lawyer charged with one count of child pornography possession and distribution says that he’s being singled out for prosecution because the FBI wanted his cooperation in a different investigation.

Christopher Young, 53, of Baton Rouge reportedly sent friends, family and clients unsolicited videos of boys having sexual activities with donkeys, the Advocate reports. Young says that he didn’t realize that they were illegal, because he didn’t know that the boys featured were minors. He called the 2013 and 2015 messages a “crude joke.”

At the time of his arrest, Young was a lobbyist for the Beer Industry League of Louisiana. On Thursday, he testified that the FBI told him they would not pursue the child pornography charges if he cooperated with the government on public corruption investigations. Young was friends with the commissioner of the state Alcohol and Tobacco Control office, and the FBI was conducting a now-closed investigation of the agency.

Young has filed a motion to dismiss based on a selective prosecution argument, the Advocate reports. If convicted, he faces a federal sentence of up to five years.

Stephen Soli, an FBI agent who seized Young’s cellphone, testified that he doesn’t consider the lawyer to be a child pornographer in the traditional sense, but that regardless of that, being in possession of and forwarding the videos violated federal law.

Young’s phone was confiscated by the FBI in August 2015, outside a Baton Rouge restaurant. Young testified Thursday that he consented to a search of his device because he didn’t think he had anything to hide.

Kin Park Thaing #fundie abajournal.com

The lawyer for an Indianapolis woman accused of beating her 7-year-old son with a coat hanger, causing 36 bruises and welts, argues she is protected by Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The arguments made on behalf of Kin Park Thaing didn’t persuade Judge Kurt Eisgruber, who refused on Aug. 18 to dismiss felony child abuse charges, the Indianapolis Star reports. Eisgruber set an October trial dial, according to the Star and the Chicago Tribune.

Greg Bowes, the lawyer for Thaing, had cited the religious freedom law in a July 29 court filing. Court documents cite scripture and argue that a parent who “spares the rod, spoils the child.”

Prosecutors responded that the alleged beating went beyond religious instructions, and Indiana has a compelling interest in preventing child abuse that outweighs her asserted religious right.

Bowes also cited cultural differences in the case, but said Thaing, a Burmese refugee, has completed a parenting class and is willing to adapt. Thaing’s children were taken by child welfare officials after she was arrested in February.

Bowes also says Thaing is protected by a 2008 Indiana Supreme Court decision (PDF) that overturned the felony conviction of a woman who used a belt or electrical cord to discipline her 11-year-old son. Indiana University law professor Jennifer Drobac told the Star that the case gave parents wide latitude in determining appropriate discipline.

Nico LaHood #conspiracy abajournal.com

The district attorney in San Antonio, Texas, asserts that vaccines “can and do cause autism” in a video promoting a documentary that claims the government has covered up the link.

Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood claims his children were “vaccine injured”—one has autism and the other a skin condition—and that he’s entitled to his opinion, report the San Antonio Current and the San Antonio News-Express in stories here, here and here.

LaHood is sitting at his desk in his county office in one of the video clips promoting the movie. “I’m Nico LaHood,” he said. “I’m the criminal district attorney in San Antonio, Texas. I’m here to tell you that vaccines can and do cause autism.”

LaHood said he was acting as a concerned dad rather an elected official when he made the video. Another of the movie segments is filmed in his home with he and his wife. He sponsored a local screening of the documentary, Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say there is no link between vaccines and autism. A 1998 study claiming there was a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism has been retracted and denounced as “an elaborate fraud.” (An author of that discredited study, former gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, was also the director of Vaxxed. Wakefield, who had been a British doctor, was struck off the medical register in 2010 for serious professional misconduct, the Guardian reported at the time.) In addition, a special vaccine court found vaccines are not to blame for autism.

LaHood doesn’t believe the CDC. “I have talked to scientists and I have seen the false study by the CDC,” he said. “I know what I have gone through. — I just encourage people to watch the information and make up their own minds.”

The San Antonio Health Department released a statement after LaHood’s video received press attention. The statement said the evidence is clear that vaccines don’t cause autism. Detractors had blamed the preservative thimerosal, but it is not a toxin, according to the statement. “The fact that thimerosal is no longer used in vaccines and the autism rate is increasing supports further evidence that it is not the causative agent,” the statement said.