The Law Offices of Kathleen Colton, Ltd.
Criminal Defense / P.O. Box 1364 / St. Charles, IL 60174
Court overturns STC man's conviction
Kane County Chronicle
Saturday, April 25, 2009
By KATE THAYER
ELGIN – A St. Charles man’s child pornography conviction was overturned by the 2nd District Appellate Court on the grounds the police search in the case wasn’t just.
***********, now 48, was arrested in December 2004, and convicted in April 2007 on possession of child pornography charges by Circuit Judge Timothy Sheldon. he was later sentenced to 21⁄2 years probation and ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Prosecutors said ******* had multiple pornographic images depicting children on his computer, along with memberships to pornographic Web sites. He denied the images were pornographic.
This week the Appellate Court handed down a ruling, sending the case back to Kane County.
The court said the search warrant allowing police to search and seize ******* computer was obtained illegally.
His attorney, ( Kathleen Colton) while she fought the charges, had maintained Sheriff’s police used “trickery and deceit” to obtain the search because investigators told ******** they were conducting a credit card fraud investigation.
Sheldon didn’t find the search to be illegal, but the high court disagreed. The case now could be re-tried in Kane County.
