o Courtesy/WV Legislative Photography ON THE FLOOR – State Treasurer Larry Pack, right, speaks with House of Delegates Chief of Staff Jeff Billings prior to a Jan. 8 joint session of the House and state Senate to hear a goodbye message from outgoing governor Jim Justice.

NEW CUMBERLAND — If the defense gets its way, the confession of a former Hancock County deputy accused of possessing child pornography will never be heard by jurors.

Patrick Hoder of Weirton was charged last summer with felony distribution or exhibition of sexually explicit conduct involving minors (500-plus images), after an investigation by West Virginia State Police backtracked the images to Hoder’s home IP address.

During a brief pre-trial hearing Friday, only one witness for the prosecution testified before Circuit Court Judge David Sims.

Special prosecutor Gail Kahle led investigator Carlton Smith of the West Virginia State Police through Hoder’s confession that occurred Aug. 29, 2024, at the State Police detachment located in New Cumberland.

Smith reaffirmed that Hoder had agreed to voluntarily meet with him and a colleague to take a polygraph test.

The polygraph test never happened, as, after the interview, Smith said he decided to initiate an arrest due to Hoder’s confession and reported comments about possibly harming himself.

While Hoder was talking to authorities at the detachment, Smith testified, a search warrant was being executed at his home, where authorities collected electronics, identifying information linking Hoder to the residence and IP address as well as any possible prints of the offending material.

Hoder’s cell phone also had been collected at the interview, and Smith forwarded it to Ashland, Ky., where another investigator was able to access the content.

After flagging the more than 500 potential criminal images and returning it to Smith, the investigating trooper said that he, in turn, validated that 313 were indeed probably child porn. However, the remaining flagged images were “age-questionable.”

During cross examination by Hoder’s defense attorney Braden Noon, Smith was asked about Hoder’s mood during the interview on Aug. 29. Admitting he was “subdued,” Smith couldn’t dispute that Hoder may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time as he was openly emotional.

Neither side put any other witnesses on the stand. They also agreed that Sims should listen to the audio from that interview, deciding not to play it in open court due to the length.

Sims is taking the matter under advisement and reset Hoder to return for a final pretrial hearing at 9 a.m. Nov. 7 and a jury trial to begin at 9 a.m. Nov. 17.

The court agreed with the defense request to increase the number of the usual jury pool due to Hoder’s past career with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department and its community programs.

Normally the Circuit Court calls 40 to 60 potential jurors. Noon asked they look at perhaps expanding it to include 80 to 100 people instead, expecting more disqualifications during jury selection.

Currently the case is charged with Hoder allegedly possessing more than 600 images. Given Smith’s number of 313, an alteration of the charge to reflect that number could reduce the maximum fine to $5,000 instead of $25,000 and maximum prison time to two years compared to 15.