Ex-Maine Governor Candidate to Plead Guilty to
Possessing Images of Child Sexual Abuse
Eliot Cutler, 76, is due in an Ellsworth courtroom on Thursday, where he’s expected to plead guilty to four counts of possession of sexually explicit material of a child under 12.
By David Sharp • Published May 3, 2023
News Center Maine
A wealthy attorney who came close to being elected governor of Maine in 2010 is expected to plead guilty to possessing videos and images of child sexual abuse and to serve nine months in prison, according to a court document.
Eliot Cutler, 76, is due in an Ellsworth courtroom on Thursday, where he’s expected to plead guilty to four counts of possession of sexually explicit material of a child under 12, according to terms of the agreement hammered out with prosecutors. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, but the sentencing memorandum filed Monday by Cutler’s attorney calls for him to get a four-year term with all but nine months suspended.
That's what you call a sweetheart deal. Available only to the wealthy.
The judge would still need to approve of the deal.
The sentencing memorandum describes Cutler’s rise to prominence and subsequent fall because of his addiction to pornography, with Cutler acknowledging that he downloaded hundreds of images and videos at a time — so many that he didn’t have time to watch them all.
Cutler takes responsibility for possessing those images and videos, his attorney wrote, noting that Cutler never engaged in inappropriate conduct with children.
No. But he paid others to do it for him! That's how child pornography works. Is that really so much better than not engaging in inappropriate conduct with children?
“Eliot has and will accept total and full responsibility for his crimes for which he feels deeply ashamed,” his attorney, Walter McKee, wrote. “He recognizes the great harm he caused to those whose images he viewed, as well as the harm to his own family by committing his crimes.”
Of course, he is deeply ashamed. He got caught!
McKee and Hancock County District Attorney Robert Granger declined to discuss the case Tuesday.
Cutler used his personal wealth to bankroll two campaigns for governor as an independent. He lost by less than 2 percentage points to Republican Paul LePage in 2010 and lost again by a wider margin in 2014.
Cutler got a taste of politics as an aide to the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie, of Maine, and later served as former Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s top adviser for environmental and energy issues.
He went on to serve as an environmental attorney and helped found a law firm in Washington before returning to Maine to run for governor.
Cutler, who remains free on bail, was arrested last year at his waterfront home in Brooklin, a coastal community 130 miles (210 kilometers) from Portland.
French star Adele Haenel quits cinema over ’sexual abuse’ in industry
Issued on: 10/05/2023 - 16:40
Text by: NEWS WIRES
French actor Adele Haenel, who has for years spoken out against sexual abuse in the film industry, announced she was giving up movie acting over the industry's "complacency".
Haenel, whose role in "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" (2019) brought her international recognition, also hit out at "the way that cinema cooperates with capitalism".
The 34-year-old, who has won France's highest Cesar film award twice, in 2019 went public with a description of sexual assault she suffered at the hands of a film director with whom she worked as a teenager, and who she said had "a hold" over her.
In 2020 she made a noisy exit at the Cesars ceremony in protest against an award for director Roman Polanski who is wanted by the US over statutory rape allegations.
They are not 'rape allegations', he was convicted of child rape.
In a letter to culture weekly Telerama first published on Tuesday, Haenel said she wanted to "denounce the general complacency in our industry towards sexual abusers".
She also said she rejected "how this business collaborates with the global, deadly, ecocidal and racist world order", capitalism.
Haenel, who has not been in a movie since 2021, said "to make this system look desirable is a criminal act".
In her letter she also mentioned French A-list actor Gerard Depardieu, charged with rape, and Dominique Boutonnat, boss of the national film centre (CNC) who is being investigated for sexual assault, and said the industry had "joined hands to help them save face".
Haenel said she would now focus on stage acting.
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