AUGUSTA — Convicted child pornographer and former martial arts instructor Wade R. Hoover, who turns 38 on Saturday, of Augusta, was back in a courtroom here Friday, waiving his right to a jury trial on 12 counts of gross sexual assault.
Hoover is accused of raping a young boy in Augusta between Dec. 11, 2008, and Feb. 13, 2010.
Hoover, a 1995 graduate of Hall-Dale High School in Farmingdale, was owner and chief instructor at Koshowarrior’s Martial Arts and the United Martial Arts academies in Lewiston, where he taught children as young as age 3. He was living in Augusta and working as a veterans’ support coordinator at the National Alliance for Mental Illness Maine when he was arrested in October 2012 at his workplace on charges of possessing sexually explicit materials.
Hoover is serving a 40-year sentence in federal prison for producing and possessing child pornography. He objected to having to face state charges involving sexual attacks on both the boy in Augusta and a separate count of gross sexual assault on a different boy in The Forks between April 1 and 30, 2012.
Hoover, with his head shaved and his hands cuffed to a leather belt around his waist, signed the jury trial waiver in front of Justice Donald Marden during a hearing at the Capital Judicial Center. Marden questioned Hoover briefly about whether he understood the rights that he was giving up.
Hoover said he did.
Hoover’s attorney Scott Hess said he and Hoover had discussed the matter.
“Mr. Hoover made the election to waive a jury trial and proceed with a trial in front of a justice,” Hess said.
Hoover was wearing street clothes, a green short-sleeved polo shirt and khaki pants rather than a jail uniform in anticipation of being brought in front of jurors.
The trial, which is expected to last several days, is scheduled to begin Nov. 30 before Justice Michaela Murphy.
The prosecutor is Deputy District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh.
Hoover’s Kennebec County trial was scheduled after he lost an appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. He had asked the court to overturn an earlier decision by Murphy, who found that the state charges did not duplicate the federal charges of which he was convicted.
The court ruled against Hoover in August.
In July 2013, Hoover was sentenced in federal court on the child pornography charges.
At that time, he told the federal judge, “I’m pretty much damned in this world and the next. I want to say I’m sorry, but I don’t think that word is going to show how really sorry I am.”
His earliest release date from federal custody is Aug. 8, 2047.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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