Another friend of this A+ list fiction author was recently arrested for unlawful acts with a minor.

How many friends arrested in similar circumstances does that make for the author.

A half dozen at least.

John Grisham

John Grisham apologizes for remarks on child porn

John Grisham is taking back statements he made about child pornography and sex offenders.

In a recent interview with the UK’s Telegraph, the lawyer and prolific author of books and Hollywood adaptations such as “The Firm,” “The Pelican Brief” and “A Time to Kill” sparked outrage when he expressed his belief that some people who view child pornography online are receiving punishments that don’t match the scale of the crime.

“We have prisons now filled with guys my age, 60-year-old white men, in prison, who’ve never harmed anybody (and) would never touch a child,” Grisham said during a conversation about high U.S. prison rates. “But they got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons and went too far and got into child porn. … They deserve some type of punishment, but 10 years in prison?

“There’s so many of them now, sex offenders … that they put them in the same prison, like they’re a bunch of perverts or something.”

He then used an old law school friend as an example:

“I have no sympathy for a real pedophile. But so many of these guys don’t deserve harsh prison sentences. A friend of mine, this was 10 years ago, was drinking, and his drinking was out of control. And he went to a website, and it was labeled, 16-year-old wannabe hookers or something, some stupid website. And it said 16-year-old girls. So he went there and downloaded some stuff.

“It was 16-year-old girls that look 30. … He shouldn’t have done it. It was stupid. But it wasn’t 10-year-old boys, and he didn’t touch anything.”

To Grisham’s recollection, the website his friend visited was actually a sting operation to capture sex offenders. He said his friend was then sent to prison for three years. – Source

Read more on these Tags: