HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) - A former Hot Springs elementary school teacher convicted in a child pornography case will spend 24 years in prison.
The Sentinel-Record (http://bit.ly/22C0yeN ) reports that Judge John Homer Wright followed the jury's recommendation to sentence 43-year-old Zachary Thomas Nehus to a total of 24 years in prison on eight counts. The jury recommended a sentence of 20 years' probation on the remaining two counts, but Wright chose to sentence Nehus to 10 years in prison.
The sentences will run concurrently.
Nehus was a fourth-grade teacher at St. John's Catholic School when he was arrested in September 2014.
He was originally charged with 30 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. Nehus pleaded guilty in March to 10 of the counts as part of a plea deal.
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Information from: The Sentinel-Record, http://www.hotsr.com
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