Kris Zocco sentenced to 19 years in prison on child pornography, drug charges

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Kris Zocco, the man believed to be the last person to have seen 27-year-old Kelly Dwyer before she disappeared in October 2013, was sentenced to 19 years in prison on unrelated charges on Friday, January 30th. Zocco was convicted of 16 counts of possession of child pornography and three drug charges.

Zocco's convictions are hefty. They carried a possible 400 years in prison. But it's the disappearance of Dwyer that is, as the prosecution stated, the "elephant in the room." The prosecutor brought it up when talking about Zocco's character.

"The defendant lies about the time she leaves the apartment, the trash chute...ripped shower curtain, moving sporting equipment that weekend," said Sara Lewis, prosecutor.

Lewis also pointed out Zocco had a video of Dwyer that mimicked some of the pornography discovered on his computer.

"Consensual conduct is not a violation of the law. It may make people uncomfortable, but it's not sexually deviant," said Dennis Coffey, Zocco's lawyer.

Zocco chose not to speak, but one of his lawyers read a statement.

"He wants to reaffirm he had no knowledge child pornography was in his possession," said the attorney.

The jury previously did not buy his innocence. Two members of the jury came to watch the sentencing. They say they were advocating a harsh sentence for Zocco; to put pressure on him, to give more information on what he did with Kelly Dwyer.

"The trained cadaver dog hitting on the defendants residence, the trash shoot, the ripped shower curtain. The defendant at bare minimum is not being forthright about this young woman's disappearance and at worst was responsible for her death," said Lewis.

The defense, reminding the court, Zocco has never been charged in.

"He is to be punished for crimes in which he is guilty, he is not supposed to be punished for some other crime, some other events," said Coffey.

It did not stop prosecutors from describing a graphic video of a sexual encounter between the two, found on his phone.

That testimony bringing Dwyer's father to tears.

In the end, the judge told the court, Zocco's sentence, was strictly for the child pornography and drugs.

Both sides had family and friends in the courtroom.

CLICK HERE for further coverage of this case via FOX6Now.com.