BRENTWOOD —A judge has decided that Portsmouth police had enough evidence to seize a home computer that led to a husband being charged with attempted possession of child pornography.

The decision means Michael Hanson, 30, formerly of Portsmouth will head to trial on Jan. 30 with all evidence against him intact, according to a court order.

Hanson, who is facing six counts of attempted possession of child pornography, argued at a hearing in November that evidence against him should be thrown out because Portsmouth police had no right to take his wife's computer.

Judge William Delker made his decision after listening to sworn testimony from Hanson's wife, Rachel, and a police detective.

Rachel Hanson testified that she handed her computer over to police and signed a consent form for it to be searched after she came home on March 16, 2009, and found her husband quickly minimizing the computer screen, the order says.

Delker concluded that based on all the facts cited by police, they had enough evidence to legally search the computer.

Police detailed in the search warrant how Hanson and his wife fought about the material on the computer.

Hanson's alleged effort to delete files using a computer program and Rachel Hanson shutting off power to the home so the program would stop was also cited as probable cause that child pornography was on the computer.

Defense lawyers argued that police did not go far enough in developing their evidence and that Michael Hanson had added protection against the search because he maintained a private account on the computer.

They also said that when Rachel Hanson called police to withdraw her permission for the search, then police should have stopped looking for the files.

Delker disagreed and concluded that police had the legal right both from the search warrant and from Rachel Hanson's written approval.

“Rachel Hanson's consent to search provided an independent basis to search the computer,” Delker wrote.

Michael Hanson faces up to 3 ½ to 7 years in prison on each charge. He is being held at the Rockingham County jail.