Child molestation charges were dropped against former Orange County Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline and three other suspected Southern California molesters Wednesday, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars prosecution of old sex cases.
A San Bernardino judge also ordered the release of a man who recently began serving a sentence for a molestation in the '80s.
One week after Supreme Court justices found a California law unconstitutional because it waived the statute of limitations in sexual abuse cases, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daniel Solis Pratt dismissed five felony charges against Kline. They stemmed from an incident in which Kline allegedly molested a 14-year-old boy in 1979. Authorities charged Kline after a computer hacker obtained a copy of his diary and forwarded it to police.
Kline's molestation case is one of hundreds statewide that exceed a six-year statute of limitations on molestation and may be abandoned as a result of the high court's ruling. The California attorney general has directed prosecutors across the state to re-examine cases that may be affected by the ruling and estimates that as many as 800 cases may need to be reviewed.
"It's a very difficult process to identify people who were prosecuted under this statute," said Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office. "We're still trying to figure out how many cases we have here."
Charges were dropped against Kline, who would have faced up to six years in prison if convicted, after defense attorney Paul S. Meyer filed a motion to dismiss them. Saying she had no other choice, Deputy Dist. Atty. Sheila Hanson declined to oppose the motion.
"I'm disappointed that the victim and the public have lost their chance to seek justice for the abuse that occurred," Hanson said. "But the United States Supreme Court has ruled, and as a result Mr. Kline cannot be prosecuted for these offenses."
After Wednesday's hearing, Kline's lawyer said he would have expected the same outcome had the case gone to trial.
"We plead not guilty from Day One," Meyer said. "In all of the hoopla about the Supreme Court, let's not forget the presumption of innocence. I am confident Judge Kline would have been acquitted in trial."
The dismissal of the state charges is the second dose of good news for Kline in three weeks. It comes after a federal judge's decision to throw out most of the key evidence in a separate child pornography case against him.
