SWAMPSCOTT — A judge usually known for handing down tough sentences showed mercy today toward a dying former teacher from Swampscott who was convicted of possessing and disseminating child pornography.
Stephen Surette, 53, will serve 60 days in a county house of correction before being released on five years of probation and home confinement with a GPS bracelet, Judge Richard Welch ordered during an emotional, hour-long sentencing hearing in Lawrence Superior Court.
Surette is suffering from terminal colon cancer and liver failure, his lawyer told the judge, and requires constant monitoring and medications. He will also need surgery soon, said lawyer David Twohig, who pleaded for probation.
Surette also will be required to register as a sex offender and get sex offender and alcohol treatment. He is barred from contact with any child under 18 except for his own children, is forbidden to use a computer or the Internet, and will have to perform 20 hours a week of community service.
Surette was convicted by a Lawrence Superior Court jury last Friday of eight counts of possessing child pornography and three counts of dissemination.
Prosecutor Jana DiNatale had asked for a three- to five-year state prison term, followed by 10 years of probation, a recommendation that she said took into account Surette’s illness.
“Were it not for the defendant’s medical condition the Commonwealth would be asking for 10 years,” said DiNatale.
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