Limestone child porn trial postponed until Wednesday

Published 5:00 am Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Jury selection in the trial of a former East Limestone Boy Scout leader charged with possession of child pornography was postponed Monday and will resume Wednesday unless the case is settled beforehand, an official said.

Robert Glen Kahler, 53, of 17078 Ennis Road, Athens, is accused of downloading hundreds of pornographic images of children to his computer. He denies downloading the images.

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Jury selection was set to begin 9 a.m. Monday before Circuit Judge Chadwick Wise. However, the judge decided to continue jury selection until Wednesday “to give the defense more time to review pornography” evidence, Limestone County District Attorney Brian Jones told The News Courier.

The case

Kahler was initially arrested on the charge in June 2015 and indicted in March 2016. Since his indictment, the case has been set for trial more than a dozen times. A case can be reset for various factors, such as delays in the discovery process, unavailability of witnesses, scheduling conflicts of the prosecutor or defense attorney, the court’s own docket or other reasons.

Investigators with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office were conducting an online investigation into the sharing of child pornography files in 2014 when they discovered one suspect, Kahler, lived in Limestone County, Limestone County Sheriff’s Deputy Stephen Young said at the time of Kahler’s initial arrest.

MCSO investigators notified Limestone authorities, who obtained a search warrant and executed it in July 2014 at Kahler’s residence. Kahler’s computers were seized, sent for forensic examination and revealed hundreds of pornographic images of children, Young said.

Kahler remains free on bond awaiting trial.