He was found **Not Guilty**. He may be innocent, but what the jury found
was that Dr. Sherzer was not guilty.

Long live Chess,

Paolo

"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
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Jury finds Maryland chess star innocent in Internet sex case


The Associated Press
9/25/2003, 7:26 p.m. CT


MOBILE, Ala. (AP) ? A federal court jury found a 32-year-old Maryland
chess star innocent Thursday of using an online relationship to cross
state lines in hopes of a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old Alabama
girl.

Alex Sherzer had claimed he was entrapped by investigators who assumed
the girl's online persona after her mother told them about her
daughter's e-mail exchange with him.

"Now I get on with my life," Sherzer told the Mobile Register
afterward. "I'm just so happy this nightmare is over."

Sherzer reportedly had moved to Louisiana for a new job at LSU Medical
Center, Shreveport, but hospital spokeswoman Elaine King said
Wednesday he was never hired.

He was arrested May 9 outside a Mobile juvenile detention center,
where he was expecting to pick up the girl, referred to in court as
Jane Doe. Sherzer testified he sensed the meeting could be a setup,
but went ahead with it anyway.

Authorities said they found he had rented a nearby hotel room with a
hot tub and had bought alcohol, condoms and sex toys. Sherzer, who was
trained overseas as a physician and was attending a Maryland college
where he was a star on the chess team, said the arrest cost him a
medical residency in Shreveport, La., and could have jeopardized his
entire career.

His lawyer, federal defender Carlos Williams, contended that Sherzer
never would have attempted such a meeting if he had not been
encouraged by Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Stan Stabler, who
was posing as the girl online.

Sherzer said he began e-mailing the girl in December after seeing her
self-posted Internet profile. But after four months of friendly
messages, he testified, he started receiving questions such as "What
do you want to do with me?"

U.S. Attorney David York said Stabler had posed such questions to
clarify Sherzer's intentions.

But jurors speaking to Sherzer after the verdict was read said they
believed Sherzer's relationship with the girl would not have taken on
sexual overtones had Stabler not intervened.

"You admitted you were wrong. We all knew you were wrong," forewoman
Jessica Jones told him. "The question was were you tricked, were you
induced? And that's it ? you were tricked."

Neither side called the girl, now 16, to testify.

"You always wonder if a potential jury will view this as a victimless
crime if the defendant does not actually physically come in contact
with the juvenile," York told the Register.

Asked whether he considered Sherzer a danger to other juveniles, York
responded, "The Internet's a dangerous place. ... Hopefully he's
learned his lesson."


Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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