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Misdemeanor Plea Ends Norwich Pornography Case

Posted by Soulskill on from the much-ado-about-nothing dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from the Hartford Courant: "Almost 18 months after a pornography conviction that could have sent her to jail for 40 years was thrown out, former Norwich substitute teacher Julie Amero plead guilty to a single charge of disorderly conduct Friday afternoon. The plea deal before Superior Court Judge Robert E. Young in Norwich ends a long-running drama that attracted attention from around the world. ... She had originally been charged with 10 counts of risk of injury to a minor and later convicted on four of them. ... In June of 2007, Judge Hillary B. Strackbein tossed out Amero's conviction on charges that she intentionally caused a stream of 'pop-up' pornography on the computer in her classroom and allowed students to view it. Confronted with evidence compiled by forensic computer experts, Strackbein ordered a new trial, saying the conviction was based on 'erroneous' and 'false information.'"

2 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Travesty by digitrev · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well excuse her for being a little bit dumbstruck at the sudden appearance of porn on the computer screen that she isn't in charge of. Would you and I have turned it off immediately? Of course. If it was a Windows box, we both would have hit Windows+D in a split second, hiding the damn thing and then close it through the Task Manager. However, Ms. Amero is a substitute teacher, and probably not very tech savvy. Give her a break.

    --
    Cynical Idealist
  2. Re:New Meaning by electrogeist · · Score: 4, Informative

    I didn't follow this closely but per a previous /. article http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/13/0753209

    1) an expert found the computer was infected on a hairstyling site, not porn surfing

    2) "Amero testified that she had told four other teachers and the assistant principal about the popups, but received no assistance. "

    3) "The school's internet filtration software was not working because it's license had expired."

    Whether she had the technical ability to install a cleansing tool I don't know, but many businesses and institutions these days have policies about installing anything without approval... It wouldn't suprise me if the school rules barred her from installing something to fix herself.

    I also imagine she received better treatment than if she were a male