ATLANTA — A judge has sentenced a former Georgia Tech professor to 10 years' probation after he was convicted on 76 charges of having child pornography on his computer.
The defense and an assistant attorney general presented competing expert witnesses who offered strikingly different views of the future risks posed by Faiz Al-Khayyal and whether he is a good candidate for psychological treatment on the outside, rather than prison.
"Typically sexual deviancy is thought to not be curable, but it is something that can be controlled," said prosecution witness Dr. Julie Medlin.
"Do you think he can be motivated for treatment?" defense attorney Mike Brown asked Dr. Kevin Baldwin.
"Yeah, I in fact believe he is motivated for treatment," Baldwin said.
The defense attorney repeatedly acknowledged that Al-Khayyal was addicted to adult pornography.
"We're dealing with conduct that happened now 12 years ago, that happened seven years before the alleged crime in this case, that happened in 31 seconds," Brown said.
The state said he still poses a risk.
"Will this defendant ever look at child porn pictures again is something we cannot look in to a crystal ball and ever know," Assistant Attorney General Laura Pfister said.
The state wanted a 20-year sentence for Al-Khayyal , with seven of them served in prison.
Al-Khayyal has to undergo two years sex offender therapy and is not allowed to have access to the Internet.
Former Tech professor gets 10 years probation for child porn
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