Attorneys react to plea deal in fmr. mayor’s revenge porn case
CAMBRIDGE, Md. – Former Cambridge Mayor Andrew Bradshaw is at home on probation, following a plea deal in his revenge porn case.
Agreement Reached
Five months after the charges were made public, Bradshaw and the victim have managed to avoid a trial that lawyers say could have turned ugly. “At the end of the day, I’m very happy for my client. My client was able to walk out the front door of the courthouse [Monday], and not the back door, so to speak,” said defense attorney William R. Hall.
Bradshaw pleaded guilty to five of 50 counts of revenge porn. His sentence of five years and five days in prison was suspended. Therefore, Bradshaw will serve no jail time. If he successfully completes three years of probation, Bradshaw’s record could be wiped clean. Before then, Bradshaw must pay a $5,000 fine.
“I believe [the deal] met our requirements, it met the needs of the victim, which are always very important in these type of matters, and I think it ensured a degree of accountability for Mr. Bradshaw’s action,” said Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton Howard III. “I will say the victim in this case was in agreement with our plea offer. I think we are all satisfied with the result we put forward.”
Road To Here
Hall says the deal comes after he and prosecutors attempted to reach an agreement earlier. However, Hall says the judge would not budge on the prosecutor’s proposal. “In fact, he made it very clear that he would not go along with the state’s recommendation. So, even though that was a pre-trial conference, we were able to move forward to another day,” he said.
Howard says the 45 counts that were thrown out likely would not have made a difference in sentencing. “Typically, the charges are not duplicative. Each and every action is offensive in its very nature. But, the other 45 charges are very, very similar to the five he pleaded guilty to,” he said. “We were very ready to go to trial on this case if we had not reached a mutually agreeable plea offer. Fortunately, we did.”
Moving Forward
The case likely would have been a long and difficult road to justice if heard before a jury, according to Howard. “I think that the Maryland revenge porn statute is a very important law. It reaches some extremely some extremely egregious and offensive behavior,” he said. “The power and pervasive nature of the internet represents a real danger to people’s privacy and offers someone with malevolent intent powerful weapons to humiliate or harm others.”
The victim in the case now has a chance to start fresh, and move on with her life, according to Howard. “It’s been a very traumatic experience for her. But, I think we shaped things in a way that allows her to move forward with a degree of anonymity,” he said.
Hall says the same about his client, Bradshaw. “It brings a resolution to something that was a very nasty situation,” he said. “I know that he is personally disappointed in himself. But, I have every confidence in the world that he will successfully complete probation, and he does have a bright future ahead of him.”
