Lawyer says rights violated in Mt. Orab child porn case

Location of Brown County in Ohio state

by Aaron Gibson, February 26, 2016

A criminal defense lawyer in the case of a Mt. Orab man accused of possessing child porn is arguing his client’s rights were violated in making the case against him, and says several key pieces of evidence should be excluded from being admissible in trial against his client.

Dusten Walters was indicted Dec. 7, 2015 in Brown County Common Pleas Court on ten counts of pandering obscenity involving minors, all fourth-degree felonies. The indictment alleges Walters did knowingly “buy, procure, possess, or control any obscene material that has a minor as one of its participants.” Walters has been charged under 2907.321 division (A)(5) of the Ohio Revised Code.

In mid-February, attorney Steven P. Billing filed a motion on Walters’ behalf that says statements made by Walters and evidence recovered from Walters’ cell phone should be suppressed, exempting the evidence from being used against Walters at trial if the motion is well taken by Common Pleas Court Judge Scott T. Gusweiler.

According to Billing, statements made by Walters outside of the attorney’s presence were made involuntarily and “were given without an effective knowing and voluntary waiver.” Billing alleges this to be a violation of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution as well as several sections of the Ohio Constitution.

Citing State v. Edwards, Billing goes on to say in the motion that Walters was forced to make incriminating statements against himself by Deputy Andy Baughey, who he claims “obviously subverted the Defendant’s free will” by telling Walters that if he did not relinquish his cell phone he would be placed on a 72-hour hold while a search warrant for the phone is obtained. The lawyer also claims Walters had only agreed to the interview with Baughey under the belief they would be speaking regarding a child custody issue with Walters’ wife, false pretenses that Billing says constitutes an illegal search and seizure.

In the second half of the motion, Billing argues that Baughey seized the phone without a warrant using a supporting affidavit that lacked sufficient probable cause for a warrant to be issued.

Prior to Walters’ indictment, Baughey filed a probable cause statement in Brown County Municipal Court saying Walters had voluntarily handed him the phone in Sept. 2015 for submission to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) to be analyzed.

That analysis, according to Baughey, lead investigators at the Ohio BCI Computer Crime Unit to discover sexually explicit images of juveniles on Walters’ phone. Baughey said Walters then gave him an admission in Nov. 2015 after BCI confirmed the findings.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Chris Van Harlingen is expected to dispute Billing’s arguments in a suppression hearing set for April 1.

—Brown County Crime Reporter, February 22, 2016 11:02 AM EST

Like us on Facebook and keep up with the very latest in Brown County, Ohio crime news.