BRENTWOOD — A jury convicted a Hampstead man of possession of child pornography on Friday afternoon after a three-day trial in Superior Court.

Robert Letoile was convicted on 26 charges of possession of child pornography for having images and movies on his home computer.

Prosecutors said the files were on Letoile's computer between 2006 and 2008.

A jury deliberated just under two hours in Rockingham County Superior Court before returning a verdict early Friday afternoon. A judge dismissed alternative counts of attempted possession of child pornography.

Letoile, 41, will be sentenced at a later date.

Hampstead police learned of the illegal pornography collection after Letoile's estranged wife, Sharon, found the images on the computer in April 2010. She reported it to police a short time later.

“The kids or myself were not allowed on his computer unless we had permission,” she testified on Wednesday.

Robert Letoile was not living in the home at the time because the couple had separated, according to court testimony.

Defense lawyers suggested that Letoile had a habit of buying used hard drives from friends and at yard sales. They also attacked the testimony of Letoile's wife.

Defense lawyer Deanna Campbell told jurors that Letoile's wife told police a year ago that she saw no images on the computer, only links to websites in the browsing history because a computer router was not working.

Prosecutors called on police officers to testify about the investigation of Letoile and how the computer was forensically examined.

The trial happened after Judge N. William Delker decided police could legally obtain a second search warrant for the computer after another judge had tossed out evidence culled from an earlier warrant.

Jurors did not hear about Letoile being charged in 2010 with sexually assaulting two girls. A jury found him not guilty of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl. Prosecutors then decided to drop charges that Letoile sexually assaulted the 8-year-old girl.

jkimble@unionleader.com