Brian Curtin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brian Curtin is a former Irish circuit court judge who was tried for possessing images of child pornography. Although Curtin was found not guilty, due to insufficient admissible evidence the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, launched an impeachment motion in the Dáil to remove him from the judiciary. Curtin resigned before the process could be completed and was not impeached.

Judge Curtin was appointed to the circuit court in November 2001. He was assigned to the South Western circuit, (County Kerry) but had not been listed to hear cases since May 2002 when the controversy began.

Judge Curtin was educated in Trinity College Dublin and is an Ex Corr. Sec. of The College Historical Society

[edit] Trial and Acquittal

Curtin was one of those targeted in the May 2002 Operation Amethyst, an investigation triggered when the Gardai received details from US police of credit-card transactions from 1999 involving Irish subscribers to a Texas-based child-porn website^[1] . As a result of the investigation, a number of people were charged and convicted.

Detectives executed a search warrant on the Judge's private residence, seized his computer and reported finding 273 child pornographic images on the hard disk. Curtin was charged in January 2003.

Following delays due to the judge's ill-health, the trial took place in April 2004. At the trial, Curtin claimed that the search was illegal because it had taken place outside the limit of the 7-day warrant. The Gardaí claimed that the delay was due to Curtin's extended absence from his home and that when it took place at 2:20pm on May 27 2002, it was still within the 7-day limit.^[2]^[3] The trial judge ruled that the search was illegal. As a result the computer evidence found could not be used. Without that evidence Curtin was found not guilty, the judge declaring that the case was "crystal clear".^[4]

[edit] Attempted Impeachment

There was considerable public outcry in response to the acquittal. Online opinion polls showed little support for his continuing to serve on the bench^[5] . Curtin refused a Government request to step down, claiming that constitutionally he could only be removed for "stated misbehaviour". Sources close to Curtin claimed that the pornographic images may have been the result of a virus^[6] .

In June 2004 Justice Minister McDowell moved an impeachment motion in the Dail, saying Curtin was "unsuitable to exercise the office of a judge of the Circuit Court"^[7]^[8] . This was an unprecendented move in Irish judicial history. The Irish constituitional judicial removal proceedings, commonly referred to as impeachment, had never previously been invoked. The Dáil suspended the motion and established a joint Oireachtas select committee to examine the evidence. This inquiry was challenged by Judge Curtin in the courts. The challenges were unsuccessful and following a Supreme Court ruling in March 2006 upholding the process, the select committee took custody of the computer from the Guards and hired experts to examine it. The process took longer than expected but they planned to issue a report to the Oireachtas in late 2006 to facilitate a debate and vote^[9] .

However in November, days before he was to give evidence in private to the committee, Judge Curtin resigned from the judiciary on health grounds, ending the investigation. Having then reached five years service, he qualified for the minimum statutory pension^[10] .