A former ABC investigative journalist charged with child pornography offenses is seeking a plea deal that would allow him to later appeal, court documents indicate.
James Gordon Meek’s attorney has filed a motion to delay his trial, set to begin on July 5, The Daily Beast reported.
The filing argues a delay would allow Meek’s team and prosecutors to ‘engage in discussions regarding the possible resolution of the case.’
The disgraced producer, 53, was indicted on three child pornography counts in April, including the possession and distribution of images depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
After an FBI raid on the Emmy Award-winning producer’s Virginia home in April 2022, evidence was discovered allegedly showing Meek sent explicit images of himself to minors, impersonated an underage girl in order to engage with minors online, and partook in conversations where participants expressed desire to abuse children, the DOJ said.
Disgraced former ABC investigative journalist James Gordon has been indicted on three child phonography counts
Meek pictured in a photo from his Twitter account – which is no longer active
If convicted, Meek faces between five and 20 years in prison.
Meek’s lawyer, Eugene Gorokhov, is now seeking a conditional plea that would allow his client to withdraw a guilty or no contest plea if an appeals court later rules in his favor.
The defense attorney alleged in pre-trial motions that the FBI raid on Meek’s Arlington property illegally obtained evidence.
Although these arguments were dismissed by the judge, any later appeal may re-center such claims.
Meek is currently in federal custody awaiting trial after a federal judge revoked his bail, considering that he posed a risk to the community.
Meek’s predatory behavior was first exposed when Dropbox alerted authorities to child porn stored in his account in March 2021, the New York Post reported.
In the April 27 2022 raid agents seized a laptop, external hard drive, and multiple iPhones that reportedly contained child porn.
Shortly after, he abruptly resigned from the network and disappeared from public view.
Meek, 53, was spotted by DailyMail.com last October after keeping a low profile following the raid of his apartment in Arlington, Virginia
Meek built his reputation at the New York Daily News, where his five-year investigation forced military brass to admit that Army Private First Class David Sharrett II was shot by his own commanding officer
Meek was a 2022 Foley Freedom Awardee
Meek’s apartment building, where he lived until April in Arlington, Virginia
Following the raid, the department obtained a search warrant for Meek’s iCloud account on November 14.
They allegedly contained backups of two of his devices and included a screenshot of one of the explicit discussions.
They also uncovered an Apple laptop that contained ‘approximately 90 images and videos of child pornography.’
Snapchat and Instagram accounts were also uncovered that contained conversations and images of unidentified females alleged to be minors.
Meek was then arrested the following January and formally arraigned in April.
Federal investigators unsealed a series of letters in April in which federal investigators and attorneys describe how Meek and others had ‘pressured’ a 16-year-old girl to sext them, despite the minor sharing her age with Meek, the Daily Beast reported.
Before his downfall Meek had built up a reputation for trailblazing journalism, which had exposed shocking military cover-ups, friendly fire deaths, and foiled terror plots.
In 2017 he won an Emmy Award for his work on the Pulse nightclub shooting.
