Opening statements were held Wednesday in the jury trial of a former Wrangell doctor accused of possessing child pornography.
Greg Salard is facing three felony counts for receipt, possession and distribution of child porn.
Opening statements began after a 14-person jury was seated late Wednesday morning at the U.S. District Court in Juneau.
Prosecutor Leslie Fisher said the FBI monitored the use of a peer-to-peer file sharing program from an internet address that matched Salard’s residence in Wrangell. After obtaining a search warrant, an agent waited for a download of video at the residence before executing the warrant with a Forest Service officer.
Motion sensors in the driveway of Salard’s residence allegedly gave Salard a heads-up to start purging his computer before he finally opened the door to agents eight minutes after they arrived. Fisher said Salard had previously downloaded hundreds of files of PTHC (pre-teen hard core) porn.
Defense attorney Cara McNamara implored the jury to keep an open mind and think carefully about what she called “false allegations” in the case based on an “inexperienced agent interpreting” the evidence.
McNamara said Salard was not a sophisticated computer user, did not encrypt his files, and did not possess or distribute child porn. She said Salard is in the midst of a nightmare that he has yet to wake up from.
Eight women and six men are part of the jury. They were whittled down from an original pool of 77 people from Juneau, Douglas, Sitka and Klawock.
