Georgia Supreme Court rejects review of Oakwood man's child porn conviction

Mar. 23—The Supreme Court of Georgia has denied hearing a case involving an Oakwood man's child porn conviction.

Adam Christian Gregorio Mecomber, 27, argued that his case should have been adjudicated as a misdemeanor, according to court documents.

Mecomber pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children in January 2022. He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Jason Deal to 20 years with the first two years in prison and the remainder on probation.

After the Georgia Court of Appeals upheld the sentence, attorney Arturo Corso filed an application July 21 to have the Georgia Supreme Court review the case.

The Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear the case Tuesday, March 21.

Mecomber was originally charged in December 2016 when the Hall County Sheriff's Office said Mecomber had images of underage girls engaged in sexual activity.

Corso argued in his petition to the Georgia Supreme Court that there are two statutes with different sentencing parameters that cover the same conduct.

One of the statutes concerns possession of these pictures, while the other governs "processing and producing" the images.

In his brief, Corso said Mecomber was viewing pornography when he clicked on a link that led him to "unintentionally view pornographic images of children using a bit torrent program that automatically saves the clicked image to a local folder." He was later indicted on 10 counts of sexual exploitation of children.

"There is no suggestion whatsoever that (Mecomber) committed any act in contact with any child," Corso wrote.

Corso claimed there was a "fatal flaw" in the sentencing scheme, as the wording of the statutes cannot be distinguished from another.

"Using the ordinary meaning of the words, it is impossible to 'process' or 'produce' a prohibited image without also 'possessing' or 'controlling' it," Corso wrote. "This is particularly the case where (Mecomber) was accused of 'possessing and controlling' by merely clicking a hyperlink that 'processed' the data and 'produced' an image on the computer screen. He could not know what the image was until it appeared on the screen."

Corso felt that Mecomber was entitled to the less harsh sentence given the statutes.

The Georgia Court of Appeals wrote in its opinion that the less harsh statute is when a person fails to report the material to law enforcement when processing or producing the content.

"The failure to report, rather than knowing possession or control of such material, gives rise to a misdemeanor charge," the Court of Appeals wrote.

Because Mecomber was charged and pleaded guilty to the felony charge, the Court of Appeals ruled he was not entitled to the lesser charge and sentence.

Corso told The Times he thought it was a missed opportunity to define the terms or make lawmakers aware of the need for explicit definitions in their legislation.

Mecomber is serving time in the Georgia Department of Corrections, which lists his maximum possible release date as Oct. 30.