Teacher’s porn conviction overturned

[jayfish]

Source: MSNBC.com

NEW LONDON, Conn. - A substitute teacher was granted a new trial Wednesday after her conviction for failing to prevent students from viewing pornography on her computer raised thorny questions about who is ultimately responsible for screening unsavory online material.

The woman, Julie Amero, 40, of Windham, Conn., adamantly denied clicking on pornographic Web sites that appeared on her classroom’s computer screen in October 2004 while she was teaching seventh-graders at Kelly Middle School in Norwich.

Amero was convicted in January on four counts of risk of injury to a minor, but computer security experts and bloggers across the political spectrum rallied to Amero’s defense when evidence later emerged that her computer had been infected with spyware that caused pop-up ads to take over the screen.Superior Court Judge Hillary Strackbein granted Amero’s motion for a retrial Wednesday after determining that a Norwich police detective who was called as an expert prosecution witness had given “erroneous” testimony about the computer.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19074272/

---

Here's the part I just love.

<SNIP>
“During the copy process we received several ‘Security Alerts!’ from our antivirus program. We analyzed the activity log and noted that there were spyware/adware programs installed on the hard drive,” Horner wrote in a report. “We ran two other adware/spyware detection programs and more spyware/adware tracking cookie/programs were discovered.”

But most of Horner’s evidence was barred at trial after the prosecution objected. Horner said Wednesday that Amero would not have been convicted if he had been allowed to present all of his evidence."
</SNIP>

So, per SOP, the prosecution got everything they wanted in this case and the defense was stifled. The prosecution ought to drop the fvcking charges TODAY!

Jay

[phusion]

1. What a bunch of crap...

She should not be charged w/ anything. I've seen how spyware can take over a machine and popup all kinds of nasty stuff.

[NI4NI]

3. I have also seen "adult website" pop-ups randomly occur

on several of the computer screens at the agency I work for after the anti-virus/spyware program that we subscribed to had expired. It was somewhat embarrassing when it happened in front of clients.

[Vidar]

2. I am glad this is being retried. Something similar happened to

a friend of mine, a former superintendent The insupportable charges were finally dropped, but the smear campaign worked & he was forced to resign & left the community. Fortunately, his wonderful wife & most of his friends stuck with him, and he's doing well today.

While I was still using internet explorer, I was accumulating almost 800 pieces of spyware & pernicious cookies--porn popups among them--a week, despite using adaware, spyware blocker & 3 similar programs. Therefore I have no trouble understanding how this could happen. Happily, firefox ended my problems.

[FloridaJudy]

21. Firefox rules! n/t

[jayfish]

25. All Software Written By Humans Is Flawed.

It's just a matter of exploiting the various vulnerabilities.

http://www.secuobs.com/secumail/snsecumail/msg05983.shtml
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=firefox+flaws
http://news.google.com/news?um=1&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=firefox+vulnerabilities&btnG=Search+News


Jay

[RamboLiberal]

4. Great news - I'm an IT manager and this case outraged me

As soon as I read it was Windows 98 and that the filtering subscription had expired I knew that Amero was innocent. In the time frame this case happened I remember the nightmare of having to clean several W98 PCs of the crap spyware and trojans that they got infected with. And PC illiterate users like Amero reacted much the same as she did.

Hope she gets off and I hope she sues the stupid fools in the school district and local authorities to at least recover the money she spent on attorneys (hell she should sue her first incompetent attorney) and for lost wages and damages to her reputation!

[reprobate]

8. She won't have to sue. Just have her attorneys notify all parties of

her intention to sue for damages. All parties involved will RUN to settle. Hope she collects big.

[Danger Mouse]

38. She should have ALL of their jobs on a silver platter.

Heads should roll over this.

[bemildred]

5. This is breathtakingly ignorant.

It takes me hours of concerted effort to remove this sort of crap from a computer, and I know what I'm doing. (By the way, a big F**K You to Micro$oft for allowing this sort of infection to be ubiquitous.)

[Kagemusha]

13. The prosecution did a brilliant job of maintaining judge & jury ignorance.

Truly one for the ages - because only through that forced ignorance could this travesty against justice be committed successfully (for a time).

As luck would have it, a family member in IT work asked me whatever had happened to that woman when the issue came up in a conversation last night. I'll be informing that person of the new trial as soon as I bump into him. It's good news.

[Danger Mouse]

6. This case was a disgrace. I'm glad that justice is being served and hope the charges are dropped.

Imagine! 40 years in prison because of spyware! That's some serious bullshit right there. Seems like the prosecution had an axe to grind.

[hootinholler]

16. Oh, but obstructing an espionage investigation is only worth 30 months n/t

on edit, jeeze, I can't get it right.

[jayfish]

23. And A Pardon Because...

he's already had it soooooooooooo tuff. :cry:

Oh and don't forget about the small children.

Jay

[Danger Mouse]

33. Of course. If they're not Republicans, then throw the book at them.

Otherwise...well, then it's time for some mercy, apparently.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. This kind of people don't want justice, they want to feel the sensation of stamping on a human face.

Perverts. Deviants. Psychos. Just as much as the worst of the people they prosecute.

[RamboLiberal]

9. And kudos to the IT people who came to Julie's defense

From Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt Software:

It should be noted that there was a tremendous amount of work done by the forensic team that worked on this case with me on a completely pro bono basis. (The forensic team was provided a copy of the hard drive in question and performed a detailed examination for the defense, comparing what was found on the drive against the trial testimony.). This team included Glenn S. Dardick, Ph.D., Eric Sites (Sunbelt Software), Robin Stuart, Alex Shipp (MessageLabs), Joel Folkerts, and Joe Stewart (SecureWorks). They deserve so much credit for the technical work done for the defense.

There was also a vast amount of work done by others. I don’t like thank-you lists, because inevitably, someone important gets left out, But here’s a start: Walter Hooper, who started the fire in support of Julie and should be credited for much of this effort; Herb Horner, the defense expert witness, who never backed down; Frank Krasicki, PC World’s Steve Bass, Brian Boyko, Lindsay Beyerstein, Brian Krebs of the Washington Post, and the Hartford Courant’s Rick Green, all of whom advocated for Julie publicly and brought her situation to the attention of millions; Eric Howes, who got this case to the attention of some very important people; Merja Lehtinen, the “other” substitute teacher in the school that fateful day, who continued to rally to Julie’s cause; Ari Schwartz at the CDT for making important introductions; the many computer science professors who, out of their own funds, took out a full-page advertisement in Norwich’s newspaper in support of a re-examination of the technical details of the case; the many people who gave Julie and Wes critical morale encouragement, financial assistance, advice and support; and the many, many bloggers and journalists who covered this case and brought it to the public’s attention. And to anyone I’ve missed, you know who you are and your efforts are genuinely appreciated. (I’m blogging on the show floor at TechEd and doing the best I can here.)

And, of course, there’s the defense team, composed of William Dow, Clint Roberts and a whole background cast. There’s a whole story there too, but for now, many of the lawyers who worked on this case choose to remain Fabian for now. Let me just say this: Julie had some of the best legal minds available working on her case – a real “dream-team”.

For now, I’m just happy that Julie has been given a second chance to prove her case.

Alex Eckelberry

http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/some-comments-on-julie-amero-case.html

And razzberries to the judge who faulted the bloggers. Without them justice would not have been served. I will say this is the first time in my life that I donated some $$$s to a defense fund. Money well spent!

[high density]

10. Thank goodness

I remember when this woman was first convicted... I couldn't believe it!!

[Downtown Hound]

11. Looks like everyone who prosecuted this case is looking to cover their asses

What a crock of shit. This poor woman has been dealing with this shit for over two years. I hope she sues the living hell out of all of them.

What's really a disgrace is that she still has to go through another trial. They ought to drop the charges, get down on their knees, kiss this woman's hand and beg for her forgiveness.

[RamboLiberal]

15. From what I've read today probability is there will not be a

second trial. As I said before - hope she sues, she's out a ton of money for legal fees!

[LiberalFighter]

26. The prosecutors should be disbarred

I am sick and tired of prosecutors getting away with prosecuting people on trumped up charges. In this case the prosecutor went beyond the facts when they displayed screen shots of the pop-ups that didn't happen. They used screen shots that they hoped would be more incriminating in the eyes of the jury then the actual pop-ups.

The judge is guilty too when s/he refused to allow testimony to rebut the prosecutor's claim. Yet allowed some hoosier POS to testify as experts from the school and the police.

[Bjorn Against]

27. And I hope those prosecutors are disbarred

No one who will turn a woman's life upside down just so they can look tough should have a license to practice law. They objected to people seeing the evidence that proved her innocent. They knew she was not guilty and they went for forty years in prison anyways. If anyone should be prosecuted it should be them.

[JerseygirlCT]

40. Yes, exactly what I think as well. They're now searching for

some way to cover their asses while ever so graciously allowing her off -- sort of.

Disgusting. I agree with you, it ought to have been thrown out. And a good number of people ought to be forced to at least make very public apologies to her.

[ProudDad]

12. Did anyone get how FUCKED UP THIS IS!!!

40 Fucking Years for "four counts of risk of injury to a minor"

Four counts of "RISK OF INJURY"...

This is further proof that the U.S. is one of the most Calvinist, prudish, hypocritical, sexually repressed bunch of fucks in the world!!!

This kind of stupid law with a draconian penalty makes the Taliban and the Mullahs look rational.

[Kagemusha]

14. Yes, the stupidly crafted law really did not help here. IMHO.

IMHO that the law was stupidly crafted, that is.

[LiberalFighter]

18. Bet Lieberman came out in support of the law

[Danger Mouse]

35. Better reconsider then. If Liberman supports it, it MUST be good.

:D

[Danger Mouse]

37. It's all thanks to our nation's 'strong Christian values'...

hypocrisy and witch hunts abound!

[donco6]

17. This was idiotic from Day One.

I mean, if you've ever TOUCHED a computer, you've had porn popups. It's inevitable. And their filter wasn't working. What the hell was she supposed to do?

[Kagemusha]

20. By rights there should be a policy spelling out exactly what to do.

Part of this whole mess was this being a substitute teacher with woefully inadequate support and guidance.

[LiberalFighter]

24. That's too much trouble for school administrators.

They are too busy figuring how to fool the state, parents and students.

[DarkTirade]

30. She did all she could.

She even turned off the monitor, left the room and went to the teacher's lounge to ask the full time teachers what she should do.

[Kagemusha]

32. Jurors said she should've pulled the plugs out and stuff.

I recall that from reading about this case months ago. No, she didn't do "everything" she could have - she did everything reasonable for someone without proper guidance and support. Too bad prosecution games left an ignorant jury drowning in ignorance so that an unreasonable standard was used in the first (and if I may say so, hopefully only) trial.

[DarkTirade]

42. I think that qualifies as everything SHE could do.

She (much like the prosecution's 'expert' witness) was not a computer expert. She did what she could think of doing to stop it. And she made other teachers aware of the situation, in an attempt to find and get people who might have known how to deal with it involved.

[Kagemusha]

44. Oh I'm not saying randomly unplugging running computers is a good plan

Such an outrage to blame her for it like this.

[RamboLiberal]

48. No she didn't turn off the monitor

That was one reason the idiots prosecuted her. Their reasoning was she should've turned off the computer, or the monitor, or thrown a sweater or coat over it, etc.

IMHO only thing she was guilty of was being a luddite and being intimidated by the PC. But that shouldn't be tried in a court.

[DarkTirade]

50. Are you sure? I seem to recall reading that she did cover up the screen

and/or turn it off... hmm. Maybe I'm misremembering.

[DarkTirade]

31. I've actually managed to avoid porn popups...

Of course, this is coming from a guy who started programming computers in the third grade. :) I did get my browser hijacked once, but it wasn't porn related.

[GRLMGC]

19. Poor thing!

I'm glad the charges got overturned but I can't even imagine what she's gone through prior to this.

[LiberalFighter]

22. Norwich police detective who was called as an expert prosecution witness

Expert??

Porn Case: Ducking For Cover
May 18, 2007 Hartford Courant

School and police computer "experts" who testified were woefully ignorant about computer security and porn spyware to the point that their testimony was blatantly false.

Experts??

Expert at what??

I bet the police computer "expert" is an expert at knowing what is pornography and how to receive personal pleasure from viewing it.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

28. And I would not be surprised...

To find out that the entire Norwich School System has one IT person, he's a consultant, and he's also the pogue relative of someone on the school board.

Because someone lied in this case to protect their own ass. Or lied before, on maintenance and service records.

And that judge needs to be removed from the bench. He lacks judicial temperment, which is an ethics violation.

[Cobalt Violet]

45. Expert at railroading people.

And expert at appealing to moronic jurors.

[DarkTirade]

29. I have to disagree with your last sentance...

I think the prosecution should have dropped the fvcking charges IN OCTOBER OF 2004. Their 'expert' was someone who had 15 minutes of training. Whereas the expert for the defense, the one who wasn't allowed to present his evidence, was actually an expert.
Not to mention that the person in charge of keeping the school networks free of such things had already come out and said that the school didn't pay for the yearly fee to update their spyware software. Hence, it was out of date and unable to catch any spyware that had been introduced since the last update.
The prosecution HAD to know they had no case. This is a simple case of the prosecution just wanting to win, and not caring if they were actually right or wrong. The fact that they felt the need to suppress evidence, and made sure they used an 'expert' who was in fact, not an expert to show their own evidence says it all right there.

[Danger Mouse]

36. If there were any REAL justice, those prosecutors would be out of work.

They WILLFULLY screwed this woman over, and were willing to send her to prison for 40 years on charges THEY KNEW were bullshit. What were they trying to do? Make themselves look good with a big case?
Them, and the judge that helped them, should all be DISBARRED and REMOVED, and made an example of.

[DarkTirade]

43. I could not agree more.

Although, what with me being somewhat petty, I'd probably want to add a little extra to that... at least a kick in the shins or something... :)

[LisaL]

34. Well, good.

I thought it was the silliest thing ever to try that poor woman.

[superconnected]

39. That poor woman. Wow!

[brentspeak]

41. This is sick. What happened to this teacher is an unbelievable outrage.

Everybody involved in her persecution -- and that's what it was -- should be under investigation.

[Psephos]

49. What an inversion. The real criminals are the prosecutor, the school district admins, and the judge

Meanwhile, the innocent person is the one being tried...a second time.

[B3Nut]

46. It's about farking time.

This case was a disgraceful deplorable joke. It illustrates the grave dangers of combining a hyper-reactive moralistic tendency with a complete lack of computer literacy. They were so blinded by their "save the poor children!" hysteria that they could not see the mistakes they were making. The prosecutors and original judge need to be disbarred, no doubt about it. They seem to lack the mental wherewithal to properly administer justice. Had they been more level-headed this would never have happened.

Kudos to the tech community for their work. Personally, I think the government would be best run by technicians and scientists, but that's me.

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[AngryAmish]

47. I had a computer totally infected spyware that caused terrible popups

Nasty, nasty stuff and stuff that would appear to be a crime to possess.

I was ignorant of the stuff at the time but did not want to bring it to a repair shop for fear of prosecution. I told a friend of mine (IT guru) who told me what was going on, wiped my hard drive and installed all the anti-virus, anti-spyware stuff.

That was a few computers ago.

This lady got railroaded.

[entanglement]

51. I remember this case - a shocking tale of injustice and unethical prosecution

The poor lady also suffered a miscarriage shortly after this ugly episode. She should sue the pants off the school board.