Readers of this blog will remember “The Strange Case of Julie Amero,” which we’ve covered extensively here:
- Introduction
- Commentary by defense expert Herb Horner
- Quick info from CEO of forensic software
- Commentary by Prosecution Expert Det. Mark Lounsbury
- Conclusions
Julie Amero’s conviction was overturned after the Internet community, led by Alex Eckleberry of Sunbelt Software, rallied around her cause. It’s rare for a judge to throw out a case after a conviction, but the evidence was overwhelming. A new trial was ordered.
You could have argued that the prosecutors in this case were computer illiterate, but for months, prosecutors held the threat of a new trial over Ms. Amero’s head, and then, instead of dropping the charges, to suggest a plea bargain – $100 fine, loss of state teaching license, and a conviction for disorderly conduct.
Ms. Amero took the plea bargain, and with the case concluded, she finally was able to speak out in an interview with ComputerWorld. Here’s a bit of information that we didn’t know:
What was on the screen?
Little itty bitty tiny pictures of sites: Viagra sites, sex enhancement creams, women in lingerie, things of that sort. Nothing lewd.
So no pornography?
No.
Was there nudity?
There was no nudity. There were sites listed. And the things they said [in court] I clicked on and went and looked at have been proven that they never were clicked on and looked at. The things that were on there were just inappropriate things to be looked at in a classroom; Victoria’s Secret kind of stuff, you know….So there was never anything pornographic?
[The prosecution] said there was one site visited, where there was a thumb-sized picture of oral sex.
So they found one picture of oral sex on the computer, but you didn’t see that?
No.
The prosecution in this case knew full well that Ms. Amero was completely innocent. And had an opportunity to try to mitigate the damage by dropping the charges when the wrongful conviction was overturned after the evidence came to light. They did not. And eventually they got what they wanted – some sort of conviction of an innocent woman for a crime that turned out never to have happened.
From Rick Green at the Hartford Courant:
New London County State’s Attorney Michael Regan told me late Friday the state remained convinced Amero was guilty and was prepared to again go to trial.
“I have no regrets. Things took a course that was unplanned. Unfortunately the computer wasn’t examined properly by the Norwich police,” Regan said.
“For some reason this case caught the media’s attention,” Regan said.
The good news is that though it may not have resolved satisfactorily, at least it is finally resolved.
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