ONTARIO A 67-year-old Malheur County man was sentenced Wednesday to almost 43 years in state prison on child pornography charges.

A jury convicted Robert Dennis Kilby on Oct. 12 on eight counts of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse and 15 counts of second-degree encouraging child sexual abuse. A judge put Kilby in prison for 42 years, 10 months on the charges.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Stephanie Tuttle prosecuted the case for the Oregon Department of Justice. Oregon Attorney General Kroger called the sentencing a just outcome in a statement announcing the lengthy prison sentence.

The statement also said Kilby had been sentenced in 1995 to 15 years in prison in Elmore County, Idaho, on two counts of sexual abuse of a child, two counts of possession of sexual exploitative material and one count of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor.

Kroger pushed legislation in the 2011 session to fix Oregon’s child pornography law after the Oregon Supreme Court in January ruled it wasnt a crime to view child pornography online, as long as the viewer does not purchase or download it. The court also noted the Legislature had not passed any laws explicitly banning the viewing of child pornography, unless the viewer had paid for the images.

Senate Bill 803 clarified that intentionally viewing child pornography is a crime. The Legislature overwhelmingly supported the bill, and Gov. John Kitzhaber signed it into law. SB 803 went into effect June 23.

The Oregon Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children unit investigates and prosecutes predators who use the Internet to target and sexually exploit children. Since 2005, the units work has resulted in 166 convictions of internet predators, Kroger noted.