MONROE - The case of an Orangeville school teacher charged with possessing child pornography should be dismissed, according to the man's attorney who challenged the criminal complaint as being unreliable.
Timothy Gordon Hoffman, 43, Cherry Valley, Illinois, appeared in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing on two Class D felony charges of possessing child pornography.
However, Hoffman's attorney, Robert Duxstad of Monroe, called for the charges to be dismissed before calling into question the validity of the criminal complaint on which the charges are based.
According to the criminal complaint, Hoffman was charged after the social media site ChatStep reported that an image of child pornography - a female described in the complaint as "prepubescent" performing sexual acts on multiple males, one of which did not appear to be an adult - had been uploaded through the website. ChatStep reported the image to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which traced the IP address of the uploader to Hoffman's apartment in Monroe.
Monroe police searched the apartment on Sept. 27 and found seven flash drives and a handwritten note seeming to describe underage boys and their sexual characteristics. Officers later stopped Hoffman in Monroe and confiscated three more flash drives and Hoffman's laptop, which he admitted would have "a lot" of child porn on it.
Hoffman was subsequently arrested. At the time, he was employed as a teacher at the Orangeville Junior/Senior High School, a position he began in August.
Det. Steven Gately said that the computer and flash drives were submitted to the Department of Criminal Investigation for analysis. An analyst later reported that more than 10,000 images of child porn were found on the devices, as well as 1,600 videos of child porn.
Gately said the analyst described some of the pictures as "hardcore," in some cases featuring prepubescent children bound and gagged.
Duxstad called into question several facets of the complaint, most significantly the credibility of ChatStep's testimony. Duxstad said the complaint made no effort to establish fundamental details of the website, such as its address and the nature of the records it keeps.
Furthermore, Duxstad argued, there was no reason to assume that Hoffman's computer was the device that uploaded the image of child porn to ChatStep from the reported IP address, or, if it was, that Hoffman was the person using the computer.
Still further, Hoffman's admission of "a lot" of child porn being on his computer should not be construed as an understanding of the legal definition of child porn, Duxstad argued. He said the picture obtained from ChatStep only depicted a girl described as "prepubescent" - no clear age was provided and the absence of breasts, Duxstad said, did not necessarily mean the absence of sexual maturity.
Finally, Gately's testimony was unable to clarify which of the 10 flash drives, if any, contained any child porn images and that the DCI analyst could not have examined each of the alleged 10,000 images to determine whether they all met the definition of child pornography.
Because of all these reasons, Duxstad said, the criminal complaint was defective and the case needed to be dismissed.
Prosecuting attorney Jeffrey Kohl argued that, as a preliminary hearing, all that was required was to find probable cause to justify the charges. He defended the complaint's treatment of ChatStep, saying that he could see no reason to mistrust the website more than any other legitimate business.
Undeterred, Duxstad said there was no reason given in the complaint to assume that ChatStep even is a legitimate business.
Green County Circuit Judge Thomas Vale asked Duxstad if there is a law or precedent that requires such diligence to be done in vetting sources for a criminal complaint. Duxstad said he "would gladly provide examples."
Vale therefore ordered Kohl and Duxstad to provide legal briefs considering Duxstad's motion to dismiss. The briefs were ordered to be submitted by Nov. 28, with a ruling to be made Dec. 1.
In the meantime, Hoffman remains free on bond with conditions including that he not have any contact with minors and that he not use any computer except to search for employment under the supervision of his parents.
The maximum possible sentence for Hoffman's charges is 30 years in prison.
Timothy Gordon Hoffman, 43, Cherry Valley, Illinois, appeared in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing on two Class D felony charges of possessing child pornography.
However, Hoffman's attorney, Robert Duxstad of Monroe, called for the charges to be dismissed before calling into question the validity of the criminal complaint on which the charges are based.
According to the criminal complaint, Hoffman was charged after the social media site ChatStep reported that an image of child pornography - a female described in the complaint as "prepubescent" performing sexual acts on multiple males, one of which did not appear to be an adult - had been uploaded through the website. ChatStep reported the image to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which traced the IP address of the uploader to Hoffman's apartment in Monroe.
Monroe police searched the apartment on Sept. 27 and found seven flash drives and a handwritten note seeming to describe underage boys and their sexual characteristics. Officers later stopped Hoffman in Monroe and confiscated three more flash drives and Hoffman's laptop, which he admitted would have "a lot" of child porn on it.
Hoffman was subsequently arrested. At the time, he was employed as a teacher at the Orangeville Junior/Senior High School, a position he began in August.
Det. Steven Gately said that the computer and flash drives were submitted to the Department of Criminal Investigation for analysis. An analyst later reported that more than 10,000 images of child porn were found on the devices, as well as 1,600 videos of child porn.
Gately said the analyst described some of the pictures as "hardcore," in some cases featuring prepubescent children bound and gagged.
Duxstad called into question several facets of the complaint, most significantly the credibility of ChatStep's testimony. Duxstad said the complaint made no effort to establish fundamental details of the website, such as its address and the nature of the records it keeps.
Furthermore, Duxstad argued, there was no reason to assume that Hoffman's computer was the device that uploaded the image of child porn to ChatStep from the reported IP address, or, if it was, that Hoffman was the person using the computer.
Still further, Hoffman's admission of "a lot" of child porn being on his computer should not be construed as an understanding of the legal definition of child porn, Duxstad argued. He said the picture obtained from ChatStep only depicted a girl described as "prepubescent" - no clear age was provided and the absence of breasts, Duxstad said, did not necessarily mean the absence of sexual maturity.
Finally, Gately's testimony was unable to clarify which of the 10 flash drives, if any, contained any child porn images and that the DCI analyst could not have examined each of the alleged 10,000 images to determine whether they all met the definition of child pornography.
Because of all these reasons, Duxstad said, the criminal complaint was defective and the case needed to be dismissed.
Prosecuting attorney Jeffrey Kohl argued that, as a preliminary hearing, all that was required was to find probable cause to justify the charges. He defended the complaint's treatment of ChatStep, saying that he could see no reason to mistrust the website more than any other legitimate business.
Undeterred, Duxstad said there was no reason given in the complaint to assume that ChatStep even is a legitimate business.
Green County Circuit Judge Thomas Vale asked Duxstad if there is a law or precedent that requires such diligence to be done in vetting sources for a criminal complaint. Duxstad said he "would gladly provide examples."
Vale therefore ordered Kohl and Duxstad to provide legal briefs considering Duxstad's motion to dismiss. The briefs were ordered to be submitted by Nov. 28, with a ruling to be made Dec. 1.
In the meantime, Hoffman remains free on bond with conditions including that he not have any contact with minors and that he not use any computer except to search for employment under the supervision of his parents.
The maximum possible sentence for Hoffman's charges is 30 years in prison.