In response to the person who considers Townsend "one of the good guys" - he may well be, in some things. I can't see that that has any relevance to the charges.
I think Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's words apply:

"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"