A Cumberland County judge has dismissed one of the three felony charges against Rent-a-Husband founder Kaile Warren Jr.

In Tuesday’s ruling, Justice Thomas D. Warren said that the state did not allege Kaile Warren knew he was selling unregistered securities when he sold promissory notes to finance his business. The law requires a person to “intentionally and knowingly” have sold securities that should have been registered for them to be guilty of breaking the law.

The indictment against Warren did not say he knew the promissory notes were securities and needed to be registered, Warren said.

Charges he misled or defrauded investors and stole money by deception do not have the same deficiencies and so Warren’s attempt to have them dismissed was denied, Warren said.

Kaile Warren founded the Rent-A-Husband handyman business in 1996 and gained national media attention for his franchise concept. Warren has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and has publicly criticized the state for bringing the charges against him.

Kaile Warren said in an email that the decision to drop the charge “pulls the foundation out from under the state’s case” and he says if the judge had been allowed to review grand jury testimony, he might have dismissed the other charges. He repeated his criticism of the grand jury system which allows prosecutors to present information to jurors  without rebuttal in an effort to win indictment.

Assistant Attorney General Michael Colleran, the prosecutor, said he was  pleased the judge allowed the charges of theft and securities fraud to stand.

“As to the count that was dismissed, the issue of what mental state we have to prove for securities crimes has not been addressed previously in a court opinion,” he said. “We are studying the court’s ruling on that issue and considering our options,” he said.