Hillsborough: Friends say child porn charges crushed ex-Marine

In June 2005, the 26-year-old Iraq War veteran was arrested on 11 felony charges of possessing child pornography. On Tuesday he would go to court.

He could plea bargain and suffer the brand of being a registered pedophile for the rest of his life. Or he could fight the charge and risk up to 55 years in jail.

"I feel I'm backed into a corner and have to plead guilty, but I DID NOT commit the crimes," Mr. Liberty wrote on his MySpace Web site last Friday.

The next evening, while Gasparilla festivities filled Tampa's streets, he killed himself.

Mr. Liberty's life began to unravel in October 2004 when a CompUSA technician found photos of nude prepubescent girls while working on his laptop computer. Tampa police confiscated the hard drive and arrested him nine months later.

"Except for his friends, everybody turned their back on him," said friend Bobby Blish.

Mr. Liberty, a Marine Corps sergeant, was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base after serving for nine months in Iraq.

"His proudest achievement was becoming a Marine," read the funeral notice in Thursday's paper. But late last year, he received an "other than honorable" discharge from his unit. The designation denies many veterans benefits, including a military funeral, Blish said.

"It was heartbreaking for him when he got his discharge papers," said Melissa Wojnar, another friend.

Mr. Liberty was a reliable friend, said Tiffani Blish, Bobby Blish's wife. "I would have asked him to watch our 3-year-old daughter," she said.

Mr. Liberty's laptop had served as a "community computer" for many friends who hung out in his apartment, Bobby Blish said.

"Since it was on my computer they consider it mine unless I could prove where I was when the pornography was downloaded, which I can not," Mr. Liberty wrote in his online journal last Friday.

Wojnar described Mr. Liberty as clean-cut and handsome. She remembered him putting on an over-the-top karaoke performance of You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', mimicking a scene from the movie Top Gun.

But in private he was hurting, Bobby Blish said. Childhood friends had heard of the charges and cut off contact with him.

As friends packed Mr. Liberty's things to send to his family, they discovered neatly filed records of $30,000 in legal fees.

On Saturday, Mr. Liberty wandered away from friends during the Gasparilla parade, Blish said. When they found him, he was bloody from a fight, and said he'd been attacked. His roommate brought him home. When the roommate returned around midnight, he discovered Mr. Liberty had shot himself.

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Comments on this article

by Adam	11/11/07 04:41 AM
I am going through almost the same exact thing. Just like Mr. Liberty I have been alienated by my closest friends. I've been evicted from my home, lost my job, and lost custody of my 3 year old daughter, I'm 26 as well. I know what hell he lived.

by MDS	09/13/07 04:20 AM
How can someone say god bless a child predator? I would like to shake the hand of the CompUSA technician who turned this dangerous perv into the police.

by Missy	09/12/07 03:12 AM
The media & people like Ryan's small mindedness caused the death of an innocent man. Whether charges were dropped or not no longer mattered to him because after the media sensalization he didn't want to live with the stigma branded on him. RIP Cody!!

by Amy	09/02/07 10:50 PM
My Husband worked with Cody at in Florida.We went to his house many times and hung out.Cody was a good man and a good friend.It pains me that the law has become so one sided and a good man felt that the only way out was to remove himself.We miss you.

by ryan	08/31/07 05:47 PM
if you know anything about the charges in his pending case, you know that he was guilty. so many disgusting files, so many incriminating timestamps. he was guilty but chose to kill himself instead of taking responsibility.

by Dad	08/17/07 03:05 PM
This rendition only touches the surface at the corners of the hell my boy went through for two years. His friends and family know. I love you Cody

by Laura	03/19/07 01:25 PM
God Bless Cody Liberty! I know that serving his country made him so proud! He is innocent and will always be innocent. Something more needs to be done to change the laws so this does not happen again,Cody was one of the good ones, he will be missed.

by gina	03/18/07 10:52 AM
I KNOW THAT CODY IS INOCCENT, HE WAS THE MOST RESPECTFUL AND WONDERFUL PERSON I HAVE EVER KNOWN. BUT I HAVE ONE QUESTION TO HIS SO CALLED FRIEDS, WHERE WERE YOU WHEN HE NEEDED YOU?

by Tina	03/17/07 12:27 AM
Cody Liberty was VERY wrongly ACCUSED. I can't believe it had to end in this manner. It didn't have to! Rest in peace, my friend.

by Jen	03/12/07 12:44 PM
Cody was wrongly accused of these charges, I still don't understand how anyone could charge only him with this, the computer was widely used by everyone staying with him. You will be missed Cody! Love you!

by rob	03/04/07 09:46 PM
What a sad story to read. I face a similair situation right now, accused of having a CD with kiddie porn in my possession, after a family member told poilice I had it. It's looking so bleak for me. I feel like taking my life is my option too.

by colton	03/03/07 06:15 PM
All this kiddy porn hysteria has gone to far this time.

by David	02/22/07 10:12 PM
Semper Fi, Marine! I was stationed with Cody in NC and went with him to Iraq. Cody was a very well respected Marine and I was dissappointed to say the leeast when I found out about his discharge. Im sorry I didnt keep better contact with him.RIP BRO

by Kellie	02/13/07 05:01 PM
Not only did he pass the lie detector test once but twice.I never heard of his lawyer before but obviously he wasn't a very good one. He should have had Cody's friends testify as character witnesses and as to the fact that many friends used his PC

by Gina	02/13/07 01:39 PM
Cody was INOCCENT of all the charges. Why is it that the media and newspapers didnt report the fact that he passed lie detector test proving his INOCCENCES? They need to investigate his case and CLEAR his name. The Marines LOST one of their BEST. RIP

by Tammy	02/13/07 02:35 AM
Cody loved this country so much he was willing to risk his life for it in the Marines. But the laws he served to protect did not protect HIM! Who'd of thought he would be safer in Iraq than here, in the land of you're "innocent until PROVEN guilty".

by Brandi	02/12/07 05:53 PM
Cody would never do anything to hurt anybody. The charges are crap and all the friends and family who knew Cody, knows he was not a part of any of these crimes said to his name. God help the person who is.

by Deidra	02/10/07 09:09 PM
May God Bless his family and may we learn that sometimes a smile doesn't always mean happiness!!CODY WAS LOVE BY MANY AND MAY HE REST IN PEACE!!!

by Kellie	02/09/07 10:40 AM
This is so sad.I used to be Cody's roomamte. He was the best roommate ever. I only just found out today. The poor soul trusted the wrong person. I remember even after his arrest he would still let friends use his computer.

by Tony	02/08/07 05:10 AM
Does this scare anybody else like it does me,guilty by assumption,they printed his home address in the paper after the arrest,yes arrest NOT CONVICTION,he was convicted in the news,pics on TV and in the paper,he was NOT who they make him out to be!!!

by susan	02/04/07 07:44 PM
your right they couldnt prove cody did this but because he took the computers in he was the one charged. sounds like a prosecuter wanting to make a name for his self by convicting a innocent man.this could happen to anyone who has a used computer

by Paul	02/02/07 07:20 PM
This is a truly sad situation. My heart goes out to his family, I know I almost killed myself because of these lies. I only survived because of my family. R.I.P Cody

by Danita	02/02/07 01:52 PM
Cody is going to be sadly missed by all.He always had a smile on his face and you couldn't help for it to be rubbed off on you.These prosecutor's should be real proud of themselves now.An innocent man dead.I hope they find the real criminal.

by Sean	02/02/07 01:41 PM
Very very sad. This is exactly the situation that an accused is forced into when prosecutors claim to have found this and that. Panic and disgrace sets in and my heart goes out to his wife and family and his REAL friends. May he rest in peace.

by desteny	02/02/07 09:44 AM
ive known cody liberty for about a year.. and been around him many different times.he was the greatest guy you could ever want for a friend,we love you and will miss you dearly.and they couldnt have prove it anyway NO PROOFF!!!HE WAS INNOCENT!!!

by Chris	02/02/07 09:37 AM
This all apparently was the result of files found on a PC. We all know how secure our PC's are. This is proof of a crime? It sounds like he was framed. Why would he take the computer in for repair knowing this. Investigate, please!

by Alice	02/02/07 06:19 AM
My question is, how could the prosecutor prove that Liberty was the one who put the porn on the computer.I thought citizens were innocent until PROVEN guilty.

Friends say child porn charges crushed ex-Marine

His suicide, they say, came as he struggled with setbacks that came with fighting the charges.