SAN JOSE -- Police Officer Stephen Gallagher pleaded guilty Wednesday morning in Santa Clara County Superior Court to allegations that he molested his 11-month-old daughter.
Judge Ronald Lisk decided that Gallagher would continue to be held without bail until he is sentenced.
A sentencing date was not set. Prosecutors said last week the charges against Gallagher, two counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14, carry a maximum prison term of 10 years.
After Gallagher pleaded guilty to the allegations, attorneys in the case described for the first time the videotaped evidence of the incident that led to his arrest last week.
Gallagher, 49, was arrested on Feb. 2 after the child's mother reported the encounter that occurred the night before, while Gallagher was babysitting, at her home in unincorporated Morgan Hill.
Deputy District Attorney James Gibbons-Shapiro said the mother installed a security camera commonly known as a "nanny cam" because she suspected Gallagher of drinking alcohol around their daughter.
Addressing for the first time what the video showed, Gibbons-Shapiro said that Gallagher allowed his daughter to touch his private parts.
"There really was no defense in this case because there was videotape evidence," Gibbons-Shapiro said. "Our only hope is that as the child grows up, this event doesn't make it hard for her in any way."
Defense attorney Dan Jensen maintains that Gallagher had no criminal intent and that the video is somewhat ambiguous.
Jensen said the two-hour video shows Jensen watching television, feeding his daughter and changing her diapers. At some point Gallagher reportedly unzipped his pants and partially pulled them down, exposing himself to the girl.
Jensen said Gallagher did not encourage the encounter, but did not prevent it, either.
Jensen said the decision to enter the guilty pleas was made because he felt a jury would convict his client due to the nature of the crime and the evidence.
"A jury would be outraged," Jensen said. "You have a responsibility to protect a child."
Gallagher, a 22-year veteran of the Police Department, has been held without bail and will remain in custody at Santa Clara County jail until his sentencing on two counts of committing a lewd or lascivious act on a child under the age of 14.
Gibbons-Shapiro said he would seek the maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison.
He said the charges against Gallagher carry with them special allegations of "substantial sexual conduct," increasing the likelihood that Gallagher would be sentenced to prison rather than probation. A judge would have to find "unusual circumstances" in the case for Gallagher to avoid jail time, Gibbons-Shapiro said.
Gallagher's pleas came before a scheduled bail hearing at which approximately six character witnesses were prepared to testify in his defense.
