A Common Pleas Court judge has denied most of the pretrial motions filed in the sexual assault case against William Halle.

Butler police charged Halle, 60, who now lives in Westmoreland County, with felony counts of sexual assault by an employee or volunteer of a nonprofit, corruption of minors, criminal use of a communication facility and criminal solicitation; and a misdemeanor count of corruption of minors for allegedly having an intimate relationship in 2023 with a 17-year-old female who worked at the Net Cafe, which was connected to the closed Grace Youth and Family Foundation that Halle used to run in Butler.

Oral arguments were presented in an April 22 hearing on Halle’s motions requesting that all county Common Pleas Court judges be recused from the case, a change in venue, a bill of particulars and discovery information from the district attorney’s office.

Senior Judge William Shaffer denied most of the motions, but granted part of the motion to compel discovery. Shaffer granted Halle permission to subpoena any relevant information they know exists and ordered prosecutors to provide digital access to a forensic interview with the alleged victim.

The motion to recuse the judges takes issue with media coverage of the case and claims every judge except Shaffer has recused themselves. Shaffer wrote in his opinion that Judge Timothy McCune recused himself from the case, but Judges S. Michael Yeager and William Robinson presided over civil and family court matters involving Halle and didn’t recuse themselves. Media coverage is no more excessive than it has been with other criminal cases, Shaffer said in his opinion.

In denying the motion for a bill of particulars, Shaffer noted that Halle’s attorney, Joel Hills, said during the April 22 hearing that voluminous discovery information had been provided, and the purpose of the motion was to ascertain the prosecution’s evidence or theory of the case. He said Halle has sufficient materials to prepare a defense.

The motion to compel discovery requests all communication Halle engaged in while he was incarcerated, all electronic and storage devices associated with Grace Youth and Family Foundation and a copy of the forensic interview.

Shaffer said prosecutors reported that all communications they found pertinent to the case were provided through discovery, but they will provide anything that has not been provided. Prosecutors do not have control over the foundation’s materials, which were seized under a separate court order by the state attorney general’s office. Prosecutors do not intend to use enrollment or financial data from the foundation’s electronic or storage material as evidence, Shaffer said.

Prosecutors shall provide access to the electronic recording of the forensic interview, and the defense can subpoena any relevant information it knows exists, Shaffer said.

Halle also filed a motion to suppress evidence gathered from executing two search warrants, one in June 2023 and one in September 2023, for Halle’s cellphone and two social media profiles because the alleged crime was not articulated in the warrants.

Shaffer said the warrants were proper. He said each warrant specifies the charges and specifies that the alleged victim was 17 years old.

Another suppression request argues that text messages obtained before the search warrants were issued were illegally obtained because they were provided by the victim’s father.

The father signed a waiver consenting to the phone search, and testified April 22 that he fully paid for the phone, had the phone’s passcode so he could access it at will and his daughter gave him the phone after the alleged incident, Shaffer said. The father recognized Halle’s number, saw texts sent between his daughter and Halle, and felt compelled to call police, Shaffer said.

Halle also argued to suppress the text messages, which are photos of the phone and not downloads or screenshots. Shaffer denied the request saying the prosecution argues that the investigating officer, who took the photos of the phone and the victim can authenticate the messages.