A former Arnold & Porter lawyer who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography has lost his law license.
The lawyer, Joshua Jesse Robert Gessler, had his Virginia law license revoked earlier this month, the Legal Profession Blog reports, citing a notice by the Virginia State Bar.
Gessler had been accused of paying a 15-year-old girl for sex and photographing the encounter. In March, he pleaded guilty to five counts of possession of child pornography and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Connection Newspapers reported at the time. He was sentenced to three months in jail, Connection Newspapers reported in a later story.
Judge Jane Roush of Fairfax County Circuit Court also sentenced Gessler to two years of probation, ordered him to pay $1,000 to a fund for sexual abuse victims, required him to register as a sex offender, and ordered sex-offender treatment, the newspaper says. “I think he’s fallen about as far as he can fall and has been punished as much as he can be,” Roush said.
Gessler spoke at his sentencing, according to the news account. “I’m not a monster. I have problems—I’ve been a mess for a long time—but I was able to mask them,” he told the judge. “But I’ve been in therapy for seven months and have begun to confront these problems. I’ve learned their root and how to deal with them. Although I’ve destroyed my career, I have many abilities and personal capital, and I believe I can still have a productive future.”
Gessler had been a corporate and securities lawyer with Arnold & Porter before his arrest and had worked as an adjunct law professor at George Mason University.
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Ex-Arnold & Porter Lawyer Loses Law License After Child Porn Guilty Plea