Judge doesn't buy research as excuse for surfing child porn

clipped from www.edmontonsun.com A former cable TV talk show in host in Fredericton convicted of accessing child pornography has been given a conditional sentence. Dennis Melanson was ordered Wednesday to serve 30 days of house arrest, and is prohibited from using a computer during that time. Melanson, 50, will also be on probation for three years and during that time, he will only be allowed to use a computer under supervision. He admitted during his trial that he visited child porn sites on a computer at Rogers Television in 2005. But he insisted he was researching the subject as a possible topic for his call-in talk show. Melanson will be listed on the national sex offender registry for 10 years, and must provide a DNA sample. During the trial, lawyer Daniel Watters testified that he encouraged Melanson to do a show on child porn and that he could surf the net to see how many images there were, but not to download anything.