UPDATED 4:40 p.m.:
THE FREE PRESS WAS THE ONLY MEDIA OUTLET AT THE SENTENCING HEARING FOR WILL BARKER THURSDAY IN WILMINGTON. FOR A COMPLETE STORY OF THE HEARING, SEE FRIDAY'S EDITION OF THE FREE PRESS.
UPDATED 12:50 P.M.:
WILMINGTON -- In a sentencing hearing that lasted exactly one hour, former Kinston City Councilman Will Barker was sentenced Thursday morning to 6 1/2 years in prison, along with a $10,000 fine and supervised release for the rest of his life on a child pornography charge.
U.S. District Court Judge James C. Fox handed down the judgment after Barker's lawyer, Allen Foster, of Kinston firm Gerrans, Foster and Sargeant, made an impassioned plea to keep Barker's sentence shorter.
Barker, who has been incarcerated at Brunswick County Detention Center in Bolivia since June, pled guilty to one count of federal charge of receipt of child pornography. By pleading, Baker admitted to using interstate commerce to procure sexually explicit images of minors.
More than 50 people came to support Barker and his family at Thursday's hearing, including Kinston Mayor B.J. Murphy, Lenoir County Economic Development Executive Director Mark Pope and local businessmen Steve Jefferson, Kevin Zoltek and Dan Perry.
CLICK HERE to view a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
Former Kinston businessman and city councilman Will Barker has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison, with supervised probation for the rest of his life upon release and a $10,000 fine. The sentence was handed down in a Wilmington federal courthouse earlier today.
Barker was charged with 10 counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor in November of 2012.
Free Press Editor Bryan Hanks will be filing a full report from Wilmington later today.