Child-porn suspect a former state inmate

A Conway man arrested in a child-pornography case Friday was previously convicted of attempted capital murder and released from prison in 2016, authorities said.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said in a news release Tuesday that Steven Wayne Bramlett, 56, of Conway is charged with 30 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.

According to the release, special agents in the attorney general's Cyber Crimes Unit started an investigation into Bramlett after determining someone using a computer at his residence downloaded "sexually explicit material involving children."

An affidavit filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court states that authorities served a warrant Friday and approached Bramlett in his driveway.

An agent wrote that without prompting, Bramlett said: "Is this about the pornography? Because I'm guilty."

In an interview, Bramlett told authorities that he has been viewing child porn for the past six months. According to the affidavit, multiple "child-sized" sex toys were found in his home.

Bramlett had been convicted previously of attempted capital murder in 1979, the attorney general said. In 2015, the state Supreme Court overturned his life-without-parole sentence because he was 17 when he committed the crime.

Justices agreed with Bramlett's argument that the U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited life without parole sentences for minors who are convicted of a crime that is not a homicide.

Rutledge said Bramlett was resentenced and released in February 2016.

Records show Bramlett was booked into the Faulkner County jail Friday afternoon. He remained there Tuesday in lieu of $1 million bond.

NW News on 01/10/2018

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