Attorneys for Scott Milton Pruitt filed a motion for new trial this morning in U.S. District Court, just prior to Pruitt’s scheduled sentencing hearing.

The motion claims that Forsyth County Information Technology Administrator J.D. Rusk purposely withheld the location of a computer server that was crucial to the case and lied about it on the witness stand.

Pruitt’s attorney, Ann Fitz, said the discovery was made on Monday when a computer forensics expert for the defense was hired by Forsyth County to locate evidence in the case.

The motion claims Rusk testified that the server which Pruitt allegedly accessed to view the images was either destroyed, erased or put into service in another department and could not be located.

Tami Loehrs, who worked for the defense as a computer expert during the trial, found e-mails Monday indicating Rusk knew where the server was immediately prior to Pruitt’s trial, according to the defense motion.

Loehrs found the server soon after starting her work at the county Monday, according to the motion.

U.S. District Court Judge William C. O’Kelley delayed sentencing and said a hearing would be set on the motion for a new trial.

“If what is outlined in this motion is true, I would find it to be of great concern,” O’Kelley said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Steinberg said government prosecutors just learned of the allegations when the motion was filed this morning.

“All of this is new information to us,” she said.

Pruitt was convicted by a jury of viewing child pornography that had been stored on a county server as part of a criminal investigation.

He was also found guilty of receiving child pornography on a personal computer in his home.

He faces between five and 20 years in prison on each of two counts of receiving child pornography.