A King County Superior Court judge has dismissed a child pornography possession charge against a Kirkland plastic surgeon.

Judge Norma Huggins on Friday ruled that police had illegally searched the computer files of Gregory Alan Johnson.

Johnson, who is accused of raping and assaulting one of his patients and fondling another, still faces four other criminal charges - second-degree rape, second-degree assault and two counts of indecent liberties.

He is scheduled to go to trial in October.

If convicted, Johnson faces at least 16 years in prison.

Huggins’ dismissal shaves off up to one year of potential jail time for Johnson, according to Julie Spector, his attorney.

Spector had argued that police, while having several warrants to search Johnson’s office, did not have a valid warrant to search his computer hard drive.

It was only after police determined there was potentially incriminating information on the computer that the prosecution obtained a search warrant for the hard drive, Spector said.

A spokesman for the King County prosecutor’s office said a decision on whether to appeal the ruling will be made this week.