[LM_NET] Julie Amero granted a new trial

[Nancy Willard <nwillard@CSRIU.ORG>]

Julie has been granted a new trial.

This article outlines more information on the motion:

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS01/70
6060338&GID

This brief notice is about the judge's decision.
http://norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS01/706060
18

This is a personal opinion and not based on anything anyone has told me, but
I doubt, with the strength of the new evidence, that the new trial will
occur. I think the state will dismiss the charges. But this is just personal
opinion. 

This still leaves a situation of significant uncertainty for teachers in
Connecticut. Here, from the article:

"He (the prosecutor) also said at trial, "for the sake of argument, if the
pop-ups had occurred, what did she have to do to stop that? Quite frankly,
she could have turned off the computer."

What happened in trial was that the defense expert, who was not allowed to
testify fully, did testify about pop-ups. The prosecution witness had told
the jury that if the URLs appeared on the log this was proof she had
intentionally accessed the sites -- which is absolute BS.

It was after this point that the prosecutor started to change his case. He
argued that either she was intentionally surfing for porn OR she did not do
enough to prevent students from seeing the porn -- like unplug the computer
-- which Julie had been told not to do.

Now consider this situation. The technology director did not install
appropriate computer security and a browser that would prevent pop-ups. The
principal had not ensured that teachers knew what to do if something like
this occurred. The teacher told her not to turn the computer off -- which
was standard rule. 

So the person who is present at the computer after this chain of failures is
arrested and convicted.

Teachers in Connecticut, please note. If this legal standards is not
repudiated by the criminal justice folks in your state, you likely should
not ever use a computer at school. Because at some point in time, even if
people have made best efforts, the "system" will fail and students will see
brief glimpses of porn.

Nancy

-- 
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
http://cyber-safe-kids.com
nwillard@csriu.org

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)

Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)

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