Former Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle, who was arraigned in March 2022 for possession of child pornography, was sentenced Jan. 24 to six months in prison and five years post-prison supervision.
Former Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle, who was arraigned in March 2022 for possession of child pornography, was sentenced Jan. 24 to six months in prison and five years post-prison supervision.
Former Beaverton mayor and city councilor Dennis "Denny" Doyle was sentenced to six months prison Tuesday morning, Jan. 24, in federal court on his guilty plea for possession of child pornography.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman also sentenced Doyle to five years post-prison supervision and to pay $22,000 in restitution, after taking into account arguments made by the state and Doyle's attorney that his actions before and after his arrest were cause to reduce the sentence that is typical of the crime.
Doyle, 74, said during the hearing in downtown Portland that he was "fully admitting that what I did was wrong" and that he would "accept whatever happens" during the sentencing.
"I wanted to publicly express what I put into writing: My regrets of my actions and the harm it has caused so many people, from the victims in the pictures to their families," Doyle said, sitting in front of friends and family who were also present in court.
Doyle was charged with one count of possession of child pornography in March 2022, after a thumb drive confirmed to be his contained illicit photographs of children under 12 years old, downloaded between November 2014 and December 2015 — while he had been serving as mayor. He had been set to go to trial before pleading guilty to the charge in October.
The case was investigated by the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force. It was brought forward as part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice anti-child abuse initiative that was started in 2006.
Mosman's sentence was a compromise between the recommendations of Doyle's attorney, Elizabeth Daily, and U.S. Attorney Natalie Wight, who both argued for a lesser sentence than what is typical in similar child pornography cases.
Wight and Daily argued that because of Doyle's cooperation with law enforcement and acceptance of responsibility for his actions, he should receive less than the standard sentence, which is about four years in prison. Both attorneys also noted that Doyle had agreed to pay $22,000 in restitution to the victims, evidence that Doyle understood the severity of his actions.
Wight recommended a sentence of one year and one day in prison — which would have made Doyle eligible for reduced time in prison for good behavior — plus five years supervision after incarceration.
Daily suggested Doyle be sentenced to one year of home confinement, arguing that he has a low risk of repeating his offense, that he cooperated with the investigation, and that his age and minor health concerns may put him at risk at the understaffed Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities.
"I don't believe it's asking this court to impose any lesser degree of punishment," Daily told Mosman. "I think Mr. Doyle's punishment ... has, in many respects, already been inflicted in permanent ways that will not end after one year."
Doyle served three terms as mayor of Beaverton after years on the City Council. He lost a bid for a fourth term to Lacey Beaty in 2020, after having first been elected mayor in 2008.
Court records show he downloaded the child pornography during his second term as mayor, though charges did not surface until two years after his departure from local government.
Mosman said that Doyle's case was unique in that he stopped seeking child pornography voluntarily, years before the thumb drive and accusations were brought to light. He said that Doyle scored a 0 on an evaluation to determine his risk for repeating his offenses, and he "diligently" attended treatment during the court proceedings and voluntarily accepted the full restitution amount of $22,000 that was proposed.
Mosman, before delivering his sentence, said it is typical that those accused of similar crimes think that their conviction will define their lives over everything else they have done. But from the letters the court received regarding Doyle and the accusations, Mosman said that’s not the case for the former Beaverton mayor.
"I have received a number of letters from people, Mr. Doyle, who know you well, and they are not sugar-coating what happened in any way, but they paint a complete portrait of a full life," Mosman said. "I accept ... that this terrible crime, which I take seriously, isn't the sum total of your existence on Earth."
Mosman said he landed on six months as the prison sentence for Doyle because that amount of time makes it more likely that Doyle will be able to serve his term in prison locally.
