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LISBON -- A Salem man's request to withdraw his April 3 guilty plea for multiple child pornography charges has been denied.
Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam recently issued his ruling for the motion filed on behalf of Brian Hough, 61, previously of Monroe Avenue, who he sentenced in June to more than 41 years in prison for 79 felony counts, mostly dealing with child pornography.
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. County Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones argued against the motion during a recent hearing, which was attended by Hough via video from prison. She said he was fully aware of his options when he decided to enter a plea after his jury trial had already started. Some time had passed between the plea and the sentencing and only after the sentencing did he try to get his plea reversed.
Washam noted the fact that Hough filed the motion after sentencing.
"This defendant has not met his burden of demonstrating manifest injustice in this case," Washam wrote.
He also said the record of the proceedings did not support the defendant's argument about health issues and pain affecting his decision making on the day of the plea.
"The defendant told me that the pain he claimed to be experiencing did not affect the voluntariness of his decision to change his plea," Washam wrote.
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 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.