“I’m particularly not satisfied with the sentence because now he is eligible for judicial release in six months,” Fornshell said. “I don’t think it is anywhere near appropriate, for somebody that has possessed video of an infant child being raped. This is the worst child pornography that I have ever seen.”
Arnold was arrested at Caesar Creek State Park in October with a rifle and a bottle of liquor, where he fled after a co-worker confronted him about pornographic materials that were left in a company truck. He was charged with 34 counts of illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material, pandering obscenity involving a minor, inducing panic and using weapons while intoxicated.
He pleaded guilty to 18 of the illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented materials and pandering charges in April. His attorney, Ben Swift, told Peeler his client has led an exemplary life, except for a DUI in the 1980s. He said a 10-year sentence would be “unfair and inappropriate” and he cited several similar cases and the sentences imposed.
“I know the state wants to demonize him and paint him as a defendant, but he is indeed a person,” he said. “He is a person who made a mistake. I know there are some in this room who are probably perfect, and are condemnatory of anyone who makes a bad decision in life, but Mr. Arnold is human.”
The co-worker who turned Arnold in asked not to be identified, but told the judge she dropped to her knees and was sick to her stomach when she saw what Arnold had.
“This is something I am going to live with every single day of my life, because of him,” she said. “These are images that are burned into my head.”
Arnold told the judge he needs help.
“I take full responsibility for what I have done,” he said. “I don’t know where my head was at, it was just completely out there. I didn’t see what I was doing as there being victims.”
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