Judge Kline Pleads Not Guilty in Molestation

Orange County Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline pleaded not guilty Tuesday to reduced charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy more than two decades ago.

Local prosecutors had previously accused Kline of committing lewd acts on a 12-year-old boy between 1976 and 1978. Those charges carried a maximum 14-year prison sentence.

But after altering the charges Tuesday morning, prosecutors now allege that Kline committed sex acts on the boy in 1979. Because the boy was older at the time of the alleged crime than originally believed, the new charges carry a reduced sentence of up to 5 years and 8 months in prison.

Prosecutors said in court documents that they made the alterations after conducting a second interview last month with Kline’s accuser, now a 37-year-old man whose identity has never been made public.

Though otherwise confined to his Irvine home on house arrest, Kline stood silently in a Norwalk courtroom Tuesday morning while his attorney, Paul S. Meyer, entered the plea on his behalf.

“The allegation is untrue,” Meyer told reporters outside court. “The case is based on a very late complaint raised 24 years after events supposedly occurred.”

Kline, 61, also has pleaded not guilty to separate federal charges of possessing child pornography.

Despite the criminal charges, Kline remains a candidate for reelection in November’s general election. The jurist is seeking permission to withdraw from the race, and his attorney is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles County court April 2 to ask a judge to remove Kline’s name from the upcoming ballot.