Kegan Kline loses appeal in child porn, exploitation case
Officials say Miami County resident Kegan Kline, who was sentenced to 43 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections in 2023 after he pled guilty to 25 counts related to child pornography and exploitation, lost his appeal this week.
Kline appealed his sentence in January.
In a brief filed at the time, Kline’s legal team called the sentence “manifestly unreasonable,” adding the court “improperly considered factors” when it determined Kline’s sentence.
Some of those factors included Kline having no criminal history prior to being arrested and that he ultimately pled guilty in the first place, saving the state time and expense, as well as witnesses from having to testify in open court.
Another factor that appeals attorney Mark F. James said should have reduced Kline’s 43-year sentence dealt with what he referred to as criminal “episodes,” an offense or a connected series of offenses that occur close to each other in time, place or circumstance.
According to James, 11 of Kline’s 25 counts occurred on or around Feb. 25, 2017, which would technically equal one episode of criminal conduct.
However, according to James, the state sentenced him to five separate episodes on that day, which amounted to 14 years of his overall 43-year sentence.
By combining those five episodes into one, James argued that Kline’s sentence — for those particular charges — would be reduced in half.
But the Indiana Court of Appeals, per their Thursday opinion that shot down Kline’s appeal, stated Kline and his legal team were incorrect in their assumption.
“It is true that, for counts 10 through 20, the amended information alleged that Kline possessed the images on February 25, 2017,” the opinion stated in part. “But that was merely the date that the images were seized. … As the State points out, the evidence shows that the offenses underlying counts 10 through 20 constitute five episodes of criminal conduct because the pornographic images underlying those counts were created on media managed by Kline on five separate dates.”
Kline was initially arrested in August 2020 after police launched an investigation that revealed he was using social media platforms, namely Snapchat, Instagram and Kik Messenger, to speak with underage females, according to court records.
Kline reportedly conversed with those females via fake social media profiles under the names “anthony_shots” and “Emily Ann,” court records noted.
During an interview with police, Kline reportedly confessed he did create the profiles, adding he would often contact girls he knew and some he did not.
Along with conversing with the juvenile females, Kline told police he also sent around “100 sexual pictures” from girls ranging in age from 15 to 17 years of age, court records stated.
