Federal judge throws out remaining evidence in jurist`s child porn case

A federal judge ruled Monday that prosecutors can not use child porn images found on the work computer of a former Orange County judge in their case against him, eliminating the prosecution`s remaining major evidence that could be presented at trial. U.S. District Court Judge Consuelo B. Marshall said that because the images found during a search of former Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline`s work computer were obtained based on a previous tainted search of his home computer, the workplace evidence was inadmissible. Kline`s attorney, Paul Meyer, had argued that the evidence found during the office computer search was "the fruit of a poisonous tree," meaning that it was derived from an illicit source. Marshall ruled in June that a Canadian hacker who discovered the child porn on Kline`s home computer was acting as a government informant, triggering Constitutional concerns regarding illegal search and seizure of the material discovered on Kline`s home computer. The evidence from the home search had been ruled inadmissible. The judge`s decision eliminated the evidence officials had allegedly obtained from Kline`s work computer. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Staples said the government would appeal both of Marshall`s rulings. Their case against Kline remains on hold pending those appeals. Marshall ruled in June that Canadian hacker Bradley Willman illegally invaded Kline`s home and courthouse computer where Irvine police said they later found more than 1,500 pornographic images and the judge`s diary. Willman allegedly accessed Kline`s computers by using a program he developed to invade someone`s computer and track that person`s online activity. He then forwarded his findings to an Internet watchdog group, which alerted Irvine police. A search warrant was later served by police who also questioned Kline. Federal prosecutors contend Willman worked as an anonymous tipster, not as a police informant, and the court should reconsider his status. Kline, 62, pleaded not guilty to six charges of possessing child pornography. He also pleaded not guilty to state charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy in the late 1970s. Those charges, however, were dropped earlier this year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 1994 state law that erased the statute of limitations in decades-old molestation cases.