Martin Finer, 58, formerly of Wailua Homesteads, will most likely be spending the next 8 and 1/2 to 10 years on the Mainland in federal prison after being sentenced to a mandatory 10-year term in federal prison Monday on O‘ahu
Martin Finer, 58, formerly of Wailua Homesteads, will most likely be spending the next 8 and 1/2 to 10 years on the Mainland in federal prison after being sentenced to a mandatory 10-year term in federal prison Monday on O‘ahu by U.S. District Court Judge David Alan Ezra.
Finer plead guilty in July, 2003, to two counts of possession of child pornography and creating an advertisement that solicited the material.
He also faced a child pornography distribution charge that was dropped with the guilty plea on the other counts.
Federal officials said they believe Finer had the most extensive collection of child pornography ever discovered in Hawai‘i.
Ezra sentenced Finer to the maximum term possible, but said if he could, he would have ordered him to serve a 20-year term. He said federal law is too lenient for a crime of this magnitude.
“That these children’s innocence should be stolen by adults for personal profit and pleasure is just beyond the court’s comprehension,” Ezra said.
During a May 2002 search of Finer’s home, federal agents found nearly 59,000 still pictures and 3,000 movies of child pornography.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong said Finer apparently ran a computer file service where he had stored the images, and was making them available over the Internet.
Finer was “not only a part of the market, he was a part of the distribution network as well,” Ezra said.
Since his arrest in July 2002, Finer has “been forthright with law-enforcement officers, cooperated fully, and has come to grips with his problem,” said federal Deputy Public Defender Michael Weight.
Weight asked Ezra to recommend to officials with the federal Bureau of Prisons that Finer be sent to a facility in Butner, N.C., so he can be treated for his addiction to child pornography, and Ezra agreed.
“During April to May (of 2002), Mr. Martin Finer ran an Internet Web site which allowed people to upload and download computer files dealing with child pornography,” U.S. Attorney Edward J. Kubo said in 2002.
None of the photos were of Hawai‘i children, prosecutors said.
The case was a result of a mutli-jurisdictional investigation involving officials with the U.S. Bureau of Customs, the Kaua‘i Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the state attorney general’s office, as well as investigators in New York.
Finer, who has been held in the Federal Detention Center on O‘ahu without bail since his arrest in 2002, was apologetic in court, Weight said yesterday.
“He apologized,” said Weight. “For a long time, he denied to himself that he had a problem. He came to realize that he does, and he wants help.”
The plea was “a result of accepting responsibility for what he’d done,” Weight added.
“Pretty certainly” Finer will be serving his time on the Mainland, Weight continued.
Weight said he asked Ezra to allow Finer to serve in a special prison in North Carolina that provides treatment for addiction to child pornography, but Finer’s federal home will be determined by officials with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in the next six weeks.
Usually, the Federal Detention Center on O‘ahu, near Honolulu International Airport, is for inmates awaiting trial, and those with shorter sentences, Weight said.
Asked whether Finer would be returning to Kaua‘i after serving his sentence, Weight said, “There would be rank speculation. It will be many years from now. Who knows?”
Finer can knock off 15 percent of his time for good behavior, which would mean he will serve at least eight and a half years. Parole is not possible, Weight noted.
When he does get out, Finer will have to abide by some conditions, including registering as a sex offender, receiving professional counseling for his addiction, and serving probation, Weight said.
Staff Writer Tom Finnegan may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mailto:tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
