ST. PAUL — Ahead of former Republican lawmaker Justin Eichorn's sentencing, his defense attorneys are asking he serve no additional prison time.
In a Wednesday, Sept. 16, filing, the defense team for the ex-state senator from Grand Rapids said the government's position "would create a massive sentencing disparity between Mr. Eichorn and similarly situated defendants."
They’re asking the judge to sentence Eichorn to time he’s already served in custody, plus five years of supervised release.
Earlier this month, prosecutors argued for a five-year prison sentence and a lifetime of supervised probation after Eichorn pleaded guilty to attempting to possess child pornography in May.
The charge stems from a March 2025 sting operation in Bloomington, where Eichorn was arrested after attempting to meet with an undercover agent who posed as a 17-year-old girl online. The operation involved the agent offering to perform paid sex acts.
Eichorn's defense attorneys argued their client's sentencing guidelines range from 15 to 21 months, when taking into account his criminal history and timely acceptance of responsibility. The pornography charge includes a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, while the original charge of soliciting a minor carried a mandatory minimum of 10 years.
The defense noted the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not object to that range during the plea agreement.
"Yet the government now seeks a sentence four times the bottom of the range and nearly three times the top of the range," the defense states. "The government’s requested sentence is also two and a half times the sentences this Court imposed upon two federal defendants arrested in the same state sting operation — 24 months — neither of which the government appealed."
In the earlier sentencing request by prosecutors, they argued Eichorn’s conduct “demonstrates a wanton willingness to pursue sexual gratification at the expense of the safety and well-being of children, and a specific desire and plan to exploit and victimize a child.”
But Eichorn's attorneys noted the crime did not involve a child, and a five-year sentence is significantly longer compared to defendants sentenced for producing child sex abuse material, citing 12 such cases with little to no incarceration.
"When Mr. Eichorn moved to dismiss the indictment and argued that he was singled out by the government because he was a state senator, the government represented to the Court that it was treating him exactly like the other defendants arrested in the same sting," the defense wrote.
"The only apparent characteristic that distinguishes Mr. Eichorn from the comparators the government itself selected is that he was a state senator — the very consideration the government assured this Court played no role in its treatment of him."
His sentencing hearing is slated for Wednesday, Sept. 23.
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