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The Tennessee Court Of Appeals upheld the sentence of a Putnam County man sentenced to eight years in prison on child pornography charges.
A Putnam County jury found Christopher Hank Bohannon guilty of sexual exploitation of a minor and aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor based on the distribution, exchange, or possession of child pornography.
Bohannon had challenged his 2015 conviction to the Court of Appeals on four counts, but the court affirmed the lower court decision.
Cookeville Police began investigating Bohannon in March, 2011. Through an undercover investigation, police shared photos of child pornography from Bohannon’s computer. Later, through a search warrant, police seized two computers. Investigators found more than 100 pictures of child pornography including minors engaged in sexual activities.
Bohannon’s attorneys had asked the appeals court to consider that the trial court improperly re-heard the Defendant’s motion to suppress evidence. Further, attorneys argued Bohannon’s statements to police during the execution of a search warrant should have been suppressed. Attorneys argued that because Bohannon has a visual impairment, he could not leave when Cookeville Police served him with a search warrant. The appeal argued police coerced Bohannon to talk.
Attorneys also argued insufficient evidence to support the aggravated sexual exploitation conviction. Bohannon said he did not knowingly share files from his computer, but rather a default setting on the program FrostWire allowed individuals to reach his computer. Finally, the appeals court asked to consider improper and prejudicial statements during the state’s rebuttal closing argument.
