A former Fredericton broadcaster was the only defence witness to take the stand Tuesday when his child pornography trial resumed, and stuck to his story that he accessed the images because he was researching a story.

Melanson Live host Dennis Melanson, 49, is accused of accessing child pornography while working at Rogers Television in 2005. The Crown wrapped up its case Aug. 10 in provincial court.

Defence counsel Howard Peters essentially walked Melanson through the year leading up to a police interview in May 2005 when he was first suspected of accessing child pornography.

For the most part, Melanson did not dispute the testimony or evidence presented by the Crown a month ago.

The former host told the court he did use a Rogers computer to access child pornography on the internet.

He said he wanted to do a show on the subject and was doing research.

Melanson said he wasn't aware at the time that simply looking at child pornography is against the law.

Peters asked him when he shelved the idea for the show.

Melanson responded it must have been in late April, after the last illegal images appeared on the computer.

That contradicts Crown testimony that Melanson told a witness he stopped pursuing the story idea in February or March of that year.

Melanson said he was mistaken about the dates he gave the witness.