The Lincoln County jury that convicted a Maine State Trooper of sex crimes against a young girl should never have heard about pornography found on his computer, the man's lawyer is claiming.

Attorney Steven Peterson is making that argument as he tries to get the state's highest court to reverse Gregory Vrooman's convictions and give the 47-year-old Nobleboro man a new trial.

The prosecutor in the case, Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cashman, has until January 28 to file her response with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in Portland. Then the court could decide to hear oral arguments from the lawyers before making a decision on the appeal.

Reached January 10, Cashman and Peterson each declined to predict whether or not the court will uphold Vrooman's convictions.

Vrooman was sentenced in June 2012 to serve 21 months in prison for crimes dating back to 2009 and 2010, when the girl was 12 and 13 years old. He remains free while his appeal is pending. The brief Peterson filed  December 10 spells out the grounds for the appeal.

It argues that evidence from Vrooman's home should have been kept out of the case. The affidavit used to obtain a search warrant didn't have enough evidence or enough signatures to be valid, Peterson claims.

“The substantive (parts) contain no evidence of criminal activity which would be found on the computer.

“The mere fact that the computer may contain images of teenage girls and young women does not support a finding of probable cause,” Peterson wrote.

The brief goes on to take issue with the fact Vrooman's jury was allowed to hear about pornography found on Vrooman's computer. That became a focal point of the case, even though it had nothing to do with the charges Vrooman faced, according to Peterson.

“This type of evidence was highly prejudicial...,” Peterson wrote.

The images included girls and young women ages 16 to 25 dancing provocatively, according to the brief.

Those images do not resemble Vrooman's admissions to incidentally touching the breasts of the victim named in the case while he was tickling her, Peterson argued.

Vrooman's case received added media attention after a relative of the victim allegedly attacked him in Lincoln County Superior Court in Wiscasset.

Peterson's brief mentions the courtroom incident, but doesn't cite it as as grounds for the appeal. Before the verdicts could be announced, the assailant suddenly ran over to the defense table, where Vrooman and Peterson were sitting, and punched Vrooman in the face several times, Peterson wrote.

William Harrison was arrested and Vrooman left the courthouse in an ambulance.

Harrison, 40, of Charleston, Mass., is free as he awaits trial on an aggravated assault charge.

At Vrooman's sentencing, Peterson successfully argued that Vrooman should remain out of prison during the appeal. Otherwise, he would have served all his time by the time the appeal was decided, Peterson said.

Cashman had tried to get Vrooman sent to prison immediately. However, Justice Jeffrey Hjelm continued the $25,000 unsecured bail; he said Vrooman had faithfully shown up for court appearances, and that Cashman's concerns about the victim could be addressed through added bail conditions.

Shortly after his convictions, Vrooman was fired from the trooper job he had held for nearly 25 years. He qualifies for state retirement benefits but missed early retirement with a full pension, by one month.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.