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LISBON -- A decision remains pending regarding a motion by an imprisoned Salem man seeking to withdraw his April 3 guilty plea for multiple child pornography charges.
Brian Hough, 61, whose last known address had been Monroe Avenue, was sentenced in June to more than 41 years in prison for 79 felony counts, mostly dealing with child pornography.
A week after his sentencing hearing, defense attorney James Wise filed the motion to withdraw plea, claiming his client was in extreme pain at the time of his plea due to multiple health issues and just wanted to get the hearing done and get out of there.
During a motions hearing Thursday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, Judge Scott Washam heard arguments from both Wise and county Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones regarding the motion. Hough, who attended via video from prison, also spoke.
Washam said he would take everything under advisement and needed to review some case law and the record before rendering his decision. He did tell Hough that it was his recollection that the court accommodated many of his medical conditions during the plea hearing and sentencing.
While answering questions from his attorney, Hough said he was on so much pain medication at the time of the plea that he "didn't realize some of the things I was going through. I didn't understand."
He said he just couldn't go on.
"So your plea was not voluntary?" Wise asked. "Not really," Hough replied.
He told the judge he didn't know what he was saying, wasn't feeling good and wasn't in focus.
Jones disagreed and noted that the case had come before the judge for a trial to the court and the defendant had the benefit of hearing a fair amount of testimony from Salem Police Detective Brad Davis before he indicated he wanted to just resolve the matter.
"The court made great effort to make sure the defendant was making the decision knowingly," she said, adding that he even said he was making the plea of his own free will and there was no coercion.
"The defendant was fully aware of his options," Jones said.
Wise countered, saying his client didn't really know what he was doing.
"I don't really remember a lot from that day. I'm not fibbing," Hough told the judge.
At least two months had passed between the plea and the sentencing and no issues had been raised until a week after the fact.
The charges against Hough included fifth-degree felony importuning, fifth-degree felony possessing criminal tools, 10 counts of fourth-degree felony pandering obscenity involving a minor or an impaired person and 67 counts of fifth-degree felony illegal use of minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance.
In March 2022, Hough made arrangements to attempt to meet an undercover officer he believed to be a 14-year-old boy for sexual conduct behind a Salem business. Police also discovered his possession of pornographic images involving children.
The pandering obscenity charges were for having, buying or controlling obscene materials with a child as one of the participants. The majority of the charges were for his possession of images or materials depicting naked children.
According to a previous story about the arrest, investigators with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force became aware of Hough's alleged illegal activity after receiving a tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program on Feb. 18, 2022, which said Hough was allegedly downloading child pornography. An agent with the MVHTTF pretended to be a 14-year-old boy and engaged in an undercover conversation with Hough, who then solicited sexual conduct, and then attempted to meet the boy on March 7, 2022, leading to his arrest.
mgreier@mojonews.com