Hingham Attorney Disbarred After Child Porn Conviction

QUINCY, MA — A Hingham attorney convicted of possessing child pornography has lost his license to practice law.

The Supreme Judicial Court ordered disbarment of Steven Dennis O'Connell, 66, following hearings with the Board of Bar Overseers, an independent body that governs attorney conduct, the Patriot Ledger reported.

In September 2016, O'Connell pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing videos depicting young girls involved with sex acts with adult men. O'Connell was sentenced to 19 months in prison, but his sentence was suspended and changed to 5 years of supervised probation. He also had to register as a sex offender.

″[O’Connell] reasonably should have known that the person in the images was under age 18, and knew of the content and nature of the movies and image,” representatives from the Board of Bar Overseers told the Patriot Ledger.

For more on this story, check out the Patriot Ledger.