Having just shared with you some interesting information about revenge porn laws coming under fire as unconstitutional because they may violate First Amendment rights to free speech, this is another interesting case with a potentially similar perspective. A man in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is claiming that it’s his constitutional right to own child pornography. Why? Because he identifies as an 8-year-old child, and therefore (as a child) there’s nothing wrong with him owning images of other children.
Child porn cases are always difficult, but Gobrick’s case was unprecedented!
45-year-old Joseph Ryan Gobrick told the Judge at his sentencing hearing that he has always identified as an 8-year-old girl. “I’ve always been an 8-year-old girl,’’ he explained to Judge Paul Denenfeld. “Even in my drawings and fantasies, I am always an 8-year-old girl,” he said. Gobrick then went on to argue that, as an 8-year-old girl, and because some of the images he owned were computer animated, it was his Constitutional right to own them. But the Judge didn’t agree. (Well, as absurd as it is, he took a long shot at avoiding a felony conviction for possessing kiddie porn. He didn’t succeed, but anything is better than sitting in prison for a child pornography conviction.)
It all started when law enforcement discovered a runaway teenager living at Gobrick’s house. The 17-year-old girl was listed as missing, and officers were searching for her when leads drew them to Gobrick’s home. A search warrant was secured, and police officers showed up to search Gobrick’s home for signs of the young girl. But that’s when they discovered the child pornography on his computer. In total, investigators say there was evidence of eight child victims being abused in the pictures they found in Gobrick’s house – some as young as five-years-old.
Gobrick’s defense of his child pornography charges fell flat on its face
Prosecutors shared descriptions of the images police found, along with information about the types of pictures Gobrick was creating in his jail cell since his arrest. Apparently he had taken to drawing pictures of children being sexually assaulted. So what kind of defense does one put together in this type of situation? Apparently none, so Gobrick decided that an attorney couldn’t properly serve his interests. Instead decided to represent himself in court. (He’s probably equally qualified to do brain surgery on himself!)
During his trial, Gobrick tried to explain to the Judge that he didn’t even like children and wasn’t attracted to them at all. “I would no sooner have physical contact with a child than you would with a rattlesnake,” he told the Judge. “It’s just not safe.” But that didn’t change his perspective on the fact that he believed he’d done nothing wrong. And then he hammered the last nail into his coffin by comparing the laws against child pornography to those of Nazi Germany’s anti-Semitic policies. “Under the law, Auschwitz was legal.” he told the court. “What you’re doing here is wrong, just as Auschwitz was.!”
Never try to represent yourself in court – it never ends well!
Honestly, this case would have been difficult regardless of who defended him. But by choosing to represent himself Gobrick gave up any real opportunity to beat those kiddie porn charges. Even though those cases are difficult, The Kronzek Firm has indeed won those cases. But, in the end, he was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison, which some people have said isn’t nearly enough. But given the incredible stupidity and incompetence of his defense “attorney” – himself – we’ll never know if he could have got a better outcome if he’d actually hired a real attorney with a winning track record.
We’ve said this countless times before – only a fool represents himself in court! Even highly experienced and respected attorneys hire other criminal defense attorneys to represent them when they’re accused of crimes. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can do a better job than a trained professional with decades of experience. Because you can’t! Instead, call The Kronzek Firm at 866 766 5245 and get the right help from an aggressive criminal defense attorney with a great track record.