Kline may seek to withdraw guilty plea, sentencing delayed
PERU, Ind. (WISH) – Kegan Kline, the man who admitted creating a social media profile that police have linked to the Delphi murders, may want to withdraw his guilty plea.
Kline’s attorneys made that surprise statement in a Miami County courtroom Thursday morning as his sentencing was set to begin. The defense also asked for sentencing to be rescheduled, claiming their client had not seen some of the evidence against him.
Judge Timothy Spahr rescheduled the court hearing to June 1.
The start of the hearing was delayed more than one hour for discussions of a matter Judge Timothy Spahr said was reviewed and settled.
Kline pleaded guilty to all 25 felony charges against him, including possession of child porn, child solicitation, child exploitation, and obstruction of justice, on March 30 without an agreement with prosecutors on sentencing.
At that hearing, Kline told the judge he was “clear headed” and understood the consequences of a guilty plea.
Prosecutors filed a request last week asking for consecutive sentences for Kline, arguing his “crimes do not consist of a single episode of criminal conduct, but instead constitute several crimes of violence, all of which can have sentences that run consecutively to each other.”
Kline admitted using the ‘anthony_shots’ social media profile to collect nearly 100 sexually explicit photos and videos of underage girls.
State Police publicly linked that profile to the February 2017 murders of Abby Williams and Libby German.
I-Team 8 has confirmed that Indiana State Police believe Kline used the social media profile to exchange messages with Libby including the 24 hours before the deaths.
A transcript of a state police interview obtained by I-Team 8 suggests Kline was exchanging messages with Libby, even discussing meeting up in the days before the killings.
Kline has never been named a suspect or charged in the Delphi case.
Kline came to the attention of investigators in the days immediately following the killings, but he was not arrested until August of 2020.
