State court drops child-porn charges against convicted child rapist

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com)— A convicted child rapist escaped child pornography charges again after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court refused to reinstate child pornography charges.

The state court did not reinstate seven counts of possession of child pornography on John D. Rex Jr. on Tuesday because the nude photos did not constitute as pornography.

Under the child pornography statute, images have to show a "lewd exhibition of the children's body parts" in order to count as pornography. The photos were from National Geographic magazines and the court stated Rex's action was protected under the First Amendment and that nudity itself was not pornography.

Rex was convicted of raping two boys in January 1996. He was sentenced to 19 to 25 years in state prison with 35 years of probation after he is released. Rex was an inmate at MCI-Norfolk.

In 2011, prison officials searched his cell and found an envelope containing seven nude photos of young boys, according to court documents. In addition to National Geographic, the pictures came from a sociology textbook and a nudist-colony pamphlet.

Rex was indicted on possession of child pornography in 2012 but a lower court dismissed these indictments. The case was brought to the State Judicial Court in March.

Cox Media Group