DARLINGTON - A Darlington man who is serving 25 years in federal prison for producing child pornography and is facing additional child porn charges from the state had three of those state charges dropped Wednesday after a statute relating to the charges was determined to be unconstitutional.
Timmy Reichling, 48, was charged in Lafayette County Circuit Court in 2013 with three counts of child sexual exploitation, five counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of photographing children without consent.
The three counts of photographing children were dropped because a Brown County appeals court, ruling on an unrelated case, determined that the related statute, 948.14, was unconstitutionally overbroad.
The statute, which prohibits sex offenders from photographing minors without the consent of their guardian, includes nonobscene and nonpornographic photographs as well, and so was found to be not sufficiently narrowly tailored.
Reichling was charged after he was accused of coercing a minor girl into sending him sexually explicit photographs and videos of herself after posing as a 15-year-old boy named "Nathan Solman" on Facebook. Reichling threatened to release the images to the victim's friends and family if she refused to cooperate.
After Reichling's arrest, investigators found several million images of child porn, some of which he directly produced, on hard drives at his residence, a mobile home on his parents' property.
Reichling's attorney, Philip J. Brehm, sought on Wednesday to dismiss evidence seized in the search, arguing that the search warrant only applied to Reichling's mobile phones, not his computer. Brehm also argued that the search warrant did not extend to the mobile homes on Reichling's parents' property.
Lafayette County District Attorney Katharine Findley argued that search warrants in other cases generally apply to a property's outbuildings. Furthermore, she argued, given Reichling's charges and his history - he was sentenced to eight years in prison in 1993 for sexually assaulting a woman with a knife - there was probable cause to believe there was evidence on his computer.
Green County Circuit Judge James Beer will make a ruling regarding the search warrant on March 9.
Reichling was indicted and convicted in federal court on charges of producing and possessing child porn. None of the federal charges included photographing minors without their consent. He is currently 18 months into a 25-year prison sentence.
Timmy Reichling, 48, was charged in Lafayette County Circuit Court in 2013 with three counts of child sexual exploitation, five counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of photographing children without consent.
The three counts of photographing children were dropped because a Brown County appeals court, ruling on an unrelated case, determined that the related statute, 948.14, was unconstitutionally overbroad.
The statute, which prohibits sex offenders from photographing minors without the consent of their guardian, includes nonobscene and nonpornographic photographs as well, and so was found to be not sufficiently narrowly tailored.
Reichling was charged after he was accused of coercing a minor girl into sending him sexually explicit photographs and videos of herself after posing as a 15-year-old boy named "Nathan Solman" on Facebook. Reichling threatened to release the images to the victim's friends and family if she refused to cooperate.
After Reichling's arrest, investigators found several million images of child porn, some of which he directly produced, on hard drives at his residence, a mobile home on his parents' property.
Reichling's attorney, Philip J. Brehm, sought on Wednesday to dismiss evidence seized in the search, arguing that the search warrant only applied to Reichling's mobile phones, not his computer. Brehm also argued that the search warrant did not extend to the mobile homes on Reichling's parents' property.
Lafayette County District Attorney Katharine Findley argued that search warrants in other cases generally apply to a property's outbuildings. Furthermore, she argued, given Reichling's charges and his history - he was sentenced to eight years in prison in 1993 for sexually assaulting a woman with a knife - there was probable cause to believe there was evidence on his computer.
Green County Circuit Judge James Beer will make a ruling regarding the search warrant on March 9.
Reichling was indicted and convicted in federal court on charges of producing and possessing child porn. None of the federal charges included photographing minors without their consent. He is currently 18 months into a 25-year prison sentence.