By By JOHN WALLACE
Staff Writer
Former Brewton Middle School teacher Gordon Harrison Murray plead guilty before Judge Charles Butler in a Mobile federal court on Wednesday.
Murray, 51, entered the plea after Judge Butler explained the consequences of forfeiting his right to a jury trial.
Prosecutor Richard Moore from the U.S. Attorney's Office addressed Judge Butler after Murray entered his guilty plea to inform the judge of the evidence that had been collected during an investigation by the FBI and U.S. Postal Authority.
Moore said "the defendant received, from another pedophile, a tape containing child pornography."
He said the defendant recorded the videotape of two young females engaged in pornographic acts onto another videotape and "placed, on the front and back, nature film to camouflage the tape and then mailed it to Canada."
Moore said a doctor was going to testify that the ages of the two females on the film were approximately 10 years old if the case had gone before a jury.
When law enforcement officials arrested Murray and served a search warrant for his East Brewton residence he confessed, Moore said.
Other evidence collected at Murray's residence included "several images on each of the disks of child pornography," Moore said.
He said the images including "lewd and lascivious display of genitals" of two young females.
Another disk contained a conversation from a chatroom that Murray has downloaded, Moore said. He said the conversation was between pedophiles discussing "minors engaged in sexual explicit conduct."
Another image that was going to be used as evidence was of a nine- or 10-year-old girl who was not nude, but the image was of a pornographic nature, Moore said.
He said the girl was wearing a thong bikini and had been whipped.
After hearing the evidence, Judge Butler asked Murray if he still wanted to enter a guilty plea.
Judge Butler then found Murray guilty. Murray is to remain under house arrest at his East Brewton residence, located at 114 Duncan Street, until his sentencing scheduled for Thursday, May 24 at 8:30 a.m.
Moore said he was pleased with Murray decision to enter a guilty plea.
Moore also said serving time in a federal penitentiary is not a life of luxury, especially for certain types of criminals.
When Gordon Murray was arrested on child pornography charges in September it sent shockwaves through the community.
Murray was a popular teacher with students and parents. He often attended the birthday parties of his students.
News of his arrest left some residents in a state of disbelief and alarmed others. However, after an investigation into his fetish for child pornography, attorney Richard Moore from the U.S. Attorney's office said there is no evidence that any local children were abused.