Trial begins for anti-war hero shamed by sex sting

SCOTT RITTER, the former UN weapons inspector who strived to putthe brakes on the 2003 invasion of Iraq by loudly disputing claimsby Washington and London that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction,was in court in Pennsylvania last night on charges of soliciting sexwith a minor over the internet.

The trial, barring a last-minute plea bargain, was expected toget under way in a Stroudsburg court with jury selection later thisweek. It stems from his arrest in November 2009 for allegedlysoliciting a girl calling herself Emily - and showing acts ofmasturbation via live streaming video - in an internet chat room.Emily was in fact a male vice officer.

The case is the third in which Mr Ritter has been accused oftrying to solicit sex with a minor, in what he claims is a smearcampaign against him because of his opposition to the war.

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania alleged that in April 2009, Mr Ritterhad an 80-minute, typed conversation with the vice officeridentifying himself as 15-year-old Emily. They contend that afterturning on his webcam to show himself masturbating, Mr Ritter turnedit off again saying he did not want to get into trouble but laterturned it on again. Finally the officer, identified as Ryan Vennemanin the criminal complaint, revealed his real identity.

"You know ur in a lot of trouble don't u," Mr Venneman typed inthe Yahoo chatroom message. "Im a under cover police officer u needto call me asap." Ritter allegedly responded: "Nah. Your not 15.Yahoo is for 18 and over. Its all fantasy. No crime... As far as Iknow, you're a 56 year old housewife."

Mr Ritter's history of legal tangles stretches back to early 2003when supposedly sealed police reports of two sex-sting arrests in2001 were leaked to the press. He hinted at the time that the leakswere part of the campaign to discredit him after he publiclyattacked the decision to go to war.

The leaked papers showed Mr Ritter was caught by police in April2001 and then in June of the same year after contacting and thentrying to meet with underage girls in upstate New York where helives. He received a warning the first time. The second time he wascharged with a misdemeanour but a county prosecutor agreed to havethe records sealed on condition he stayed out of trouble for sixmonths.

At the time newspapers got hold of those reports, federalprosecutors were seeking to have them unsealed to consider buildinga case against Mr Ritter, an effort that was later dropped. All thisswirled around Mr Ritter, a hero of the anti-war movement, in theweeks before the invasion.

"The timing does stink - I was supposed to be on an airplaneyesterday to Baghdad," he told Fox News at the time. "It's a shamethat somebody would bring up this old matter, this dismissed matter,and seek to silence me at this time." Mr Ritter, who served in theUS Marines in the first Gulf War, had by then spoken to the USCongress and the Iraqi parliament against an invasion.

The defence team in the latest case has asserted Mr Ritter'sinnocence, and tried to have the case dismissed. His lawyers citedimproper conduct by the prosecutor in the case, Michael Rakaczewski,for seeking and eventually obtaining under a court order the samesealed documents pertaining to the 2001 incidents to bolster hiscase.

Mr Rakaczewksi says the sealed reports are relevant. "The priorbad acts demonstrate the defendant's motive," he said. "Thedefendant may claim he did not believe the victim was a minor andnever intended to expose himself to a minor. However, the fact thathe did so twice before would negate this defence. All three involveminors, all three involve females, all three involve communicationsover the internet, all three involved undercover police and allthree involved the defendant's desire to masturbate in the presenceof a minor while she watched him."