Judge eyes child porn conviction stemming from spy case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge said Monday she's considering throwing out at least one conviction against a former Boeing manager found guilty of receiving and possessing child pornography that was uncovered during an unrelated espionage investigation.

Gartenlaub's attorney Mark Werksman repeated arguments that the entire case should be dismissed because of the way the government obtained a search warrant involving Gartenlaub's home and computers.

The warrant, obtained through the nation's secretive intelligence court, was based on allegations of a crime for which Gartenlaub has never been charged — espionage.

Snyder suggested that the government's recommendation that Gartenlaub be sentenced to 10 years in prison seemed too high since he was not accused of producing the pornography.

FBI agents say they found the child pornography images on Gartenlaub's computer two years ago as they were investigating a potential data leak at Boeing.