After nine days of trial and about seven hours of deliberation a Fond du Lac County jury has found a former Fond du Lac City Human Resources Director guilty of 14 counts of possession of child pornography.
Judge Dale English Thursday evening affirmed the jury's verdict in the Ben Mercer case. The jury acquitted the 57-year-old Fond du Lac man on 16 other counts. During his closing arguments State Assistant Attorney General Michael Schaefer impressed upon the jury that Mercer knew what he was doing in searching the Internet for child porn on his work computer. Since Mercer was charged in 2005 under the old statutes for child pornography possession the most he could get is 2 ½ years in prison on each count, but Schaefer said after the trial he wouldn't be asking for that much time.
Until now Mercer has had a clean record. A number of his supporters were in the courtroom for the verdict. Upon hearing it he lowered his head, a stark contrast to the way he carried himself during the trial. Schaefer said the images Mercer was convicted of possessing were those found during the initial investigation by the Fond du Lac Police Department and Management Information Systems Department.
