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New trial granted for former Norwich teacher in porn case
From: <rms () computerbytesman com>
Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 17:37:29 -0400
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-06144028.apds.m0782.bc-c t--teacjun06,0,5283066.story?coll=hc-headlines-local-wire New trial granted for former Norwich teacher in porn case Associated Press June 6, 2007 NEW LONDON, Conn. -- A judge granted a new trial Wednesday and dismissed the conviction of a former Norwich substitute teacher accused of allowing students to view pornography on a classroom computer. Julie Amero, 40, of Windham, who maintained that the pornographic images popped up on a school computer by themselves, faced up to 40 years in prison after a jury convicted her in January of four counts of risk of injury to a minor. Amero, who has no criminal record, has found herself at the center of national debate over computer security since the incident in a seventh-grade classroom almost three years ago. Her supporters - including a cadre of computer experts - say unseen spyware and adware programs probably infected the old computer, and that it lacked firewall protections to block the inappropriate pop-up ads and images. Prosecutors argued at her trial that Amero visited the sites, then failed to shield children from seeing the images. After the trial, however, prosecutors sent the hard drive to the Connecticut State Police forensics laboratory, where an analysis found evidence that contradicted testimony from the state's expert witness. "The lesson from this is: All of us are subject to the whims of these computers, these great machines that all of a sudden can create a criminal case against someone like Julie, who didn't understand what was going on," her attorney, William F. Dow, said after Wednesday's hearing. Technology specialists hired by the defense team examined the computer twice before Amero's trial, but were not allowed to testify about some of the information they believed could have exonerated her. They raised enough questions, however, to prompt prosecutors to seek their own analysis. Dow and prosecutor David Smith did not say Wednesday whether adware, spyware or other unwanted programs were discovered on the computer after Amero was convicted. Dow said the review looked at the computer's history, items on the hard drive before and after the classroom incident, and other specifics. "Certainly findings found by the state lab may contradict evidence presented by the state's witness," Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein said Wednesday. "The jury may have relied, at least in part, on that faulty information." ... _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
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