Shorewood Piano Tuner Gets 3 Years For Child Porn

Shorewood piano tuner James Severson will likely be playing the prison blues for the next three years.

Judge Sarah Jones sentenced Severson to a three year hitch Tuesday for possessing child pornography.

Jones said passing sentence is something she "struggles" with, but still packed Severson off to prison.

"It's a hard thing to do," she said.

Jones said she took into account the sadomasochistic nature of the video and photographs found on Severson's computer. She also considered that he has no criminal history.

The law learned of Severson's kiddie porn collection after his wife, Margaret DeLeon, sought a court order in January 2008 to keep him away from her and her teenage daughter.

"My husband has purchased 14 child pornography videos from a website that he has to download to view," DeLeon wrote in her petition for the order. "This website contains child pornography and I feel that if he finds out that I know about this website he could become violent with me or my daughter, who is 14.

"He is a former Marine and in the past has stated 'he knows how to kill people,'" DeLeon wrote in the petition that she obtained while Severson was living with her and her child in their home on Mazalin Drive.

Four months after DeLeon claimed under oath that the allegedly deadly Severson had bought videos of child pornography, the Shorewood police took the self-employed piano tuner into custody. But Severson avoided a trip to the county jail by posting $4,000 bond for his release and remained free for the near four years between his arrest and his trial in February.

A jury took only about an hour to return a guilty verdict at the conclusion of the three-day trial. Severson's bond was revoked and he was taken into custody at the county jail after he was found guilty.

While Judge Jones gave Severson three years Tuesday, there's a chance she might pull back some of the sentence. Jones allowed Severson's attorney, Kurt Gustafson, to file a motion to reconsider the sentence. The motion will be argued on Monday.