Paul Rubens, aka Peewee Herman, is charged with a misdemeanor count of possession of child pornography in California. His lawyer, Blair Berk, has filed a motion seeking dismissal of the charges.

Attorney Blair Berk confirmed that the motion, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, said the sexually provocative images found in his home were made years before California deemed child pornography ownership illegal.

Sexually explicit images of children made up a very small portion of a "vast" vintage porn, kitsch and erotica collection owned by Reubens, who is best known for entertaining young TV viewers as the nerdy man-child Pee-Wee Herman, the motion said. The images -- in a book, a film and 24 magazines -- were "produced decades before [child pornography] possession was ever proscribed," the motion said.

Some of the images were produced at the turn of the 20th century, the motion said. In addition, a statute of limitations had expired before Reubens was charged, it said."