WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a former Senate worker’s claim that a federal judge should have considered new evidence at his resentencing for a child pornography conviction.
Richard S. Barth was originally sentenced to two months in prison and 10 months of home detention after he pleaded guilty to sending child pornography to “beth15,” to whom he also boasted that he had raped his 8-year-old granddaughter.
That claim was later found untrue — but not before “beth15,” who was actually an undercover police officer, reported the alleged rape, causing child welfare officials in New York to separate Barth’s grandchildren from their parents.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Chasanow cited the impact on the family in her February 2000 sentencing of Barth.
But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out that sentence, saying Chasanow should not have considered the impact on the family when she decided to reduce Barth’s sentence.
In a resentencing hearing in May 2001, Barth’s attorneys tried to introduce testimony from a psychologist that Barth had “successfully undergone extraordinary rehabilitation” since his conviction.
But Chasanow refused to consider information that was not before her at the time of the initial sentencing, saying that 4th Circuit rules prohibited her from doing so. She sentenced Barth to 17 months in prison, giving him credit for two months he had already served under the original sentence.
Barth had already served 10 months of home detention from his original sentence but Chasanow did not credit that time against his 17 months. He also paid a $7,500 fine, which Chasanow let stand.
This time, it was Barth who appealed to the 4th Circuit, which let the second sentence stand.
Barth then turned to the Supreme Court, noting that the 10 federal judicial circuits were split, 7-3, over the admissibility on resentencing of evidence since an initial sentencing. The high court Tuesday declined, without comment, to hear Barth’s plea.
Nathan Lewin, Barth’s lawyer, said Tuesday that the Supreme Court’s decision “may very well be a problem,” given the split between judicial circuits.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore declined comment on the decision Tuesday.
Barth could not be contacted. Previous published accounts said he lived in Silver Spring, but calls to that area Tuesday were not returned.
Before his conviction, Barth worked as a data standards manager for the Secretary of the U.S. Senate. According to court documents, he met “beth15” through an Internet chat room for “dad and daughter sex.”
He arranged to meet “beth15” in Chicago, since he would be traveling there for a work-related conference. He later canceled the meeting, out of fear that he was being “watched” at work.
Barth was arrested in Chicago anyway. After his arrest, a search of his home and computer turned up hundreds of images of child pornography, many of which involved a minor under age 12, according to court filings. Prosecutors also said they found images of sadistic and masochistic conduct.