Teacher guilty in Norwich porn case

Binomate

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/NEWS01/701060312/1002/NEWS17

NORWICH -- State Prosecutor David Smith said he wondered why Julie Amero didn't just pull the plug on her classroom computer.
The six-person jury Friday may have been wondering the same thing when they convicted Amero, 40, of Windham of four counts of risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child. It took them less than two hours to decide the verdict. She faces a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.


Oct. 19, 2004, while substituting for a seventh-grade language class at Kelly Middle School, Amero claimed she could not control the graphic images appearing in an endless cycle on her computer.
"The pop-ups never went away," Amero testified. "They were continuous."
The Web sites, which police proved were accessed while Amero was in the classroom, were seen by as many as 10 minor students. Several of the students testified during the three-day trial in Norwich Superior Court to seeing images of naked men and women.
Computer expert W. Herbert Horner, testifying in Amero's defense, said he found spyware on the computer and an innocent hair styling Web site "that led to this pornographic loop that was out of control."
"If you try to get out of it, you're trapped," Horner said.
But Smith countered Horner's testimony with that of Norwich Police Detective Mark Lounsbury, a computer crimes investigator. On a projected image of the list of Web sites visited while Amero was working, Lounsbury pointed out several highlighted links.
"You have to physically click on it to get to those sites," Smith said. "I think the evidence is overwhelming that she did intend to access those Web sites."
Among the sites Amero visited were meetlovers.com and femalesexual.com, along with others with more graphic names.
Defense attorney John Cocheo moved for a mistrial shortly before closing arguments Friday, based on reports jurors had discussed the case while eating lunch at the Harp and Dragon. Each of the jurors denied the allegation under questioning by Judge Hillary Strackbein and the motion was denied.
Cocheo, who said he was surprised by the verdict, especially with the "contradictory evidence," said he planned to appeal. Amero had no visible reaction to the verdict, though her family was obviously upset.
Amero, because the charges are felonies, faces 40 years in prison at her March 2 sentencing. Her family, present in court for entire trial, declined comment about the verdict.

Don't know if this has been posted already, but this seems a little excessive to me. I'd expect her to have been fired, but a 40 year jail sentence is a little too much.

Fajitas!

40 years is waaaaay too long for this. Agreed she should loose her job, maybe do community service or something... well, something more severe, but not 40 years!

Karl Hungus

Binomate wrote:

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/NEWS01/701060312/1002/NEWS17
Don't know if this has been posted already, but this seems a little excessive to me. I'd expect her to have been fired, but a 40 year jail sentence is a little too much.

40 years in prison is an absolute joke for this kind of accident. There are people out there robbing people's mobile phones at syringe point who only get a slap on the wrist.

Inconceivable!

Recon

kill someone, a couple of years in jail, show to some porn "accidentally" (we don't know, maybe it was an accident!) 40 ****ing years??? A little excessive is right...

Morons. Why don't they give that kind of jail sentence to people who actually deserve it.

"You have to physically click on it to get to those sites," Smith said. "I think the evidence is overwhelming that she did intend to access those Web sites."

You know, some popups are designed to look like normal computer text popups, if you don't know what's going on you could click one, or click it accidentally by having less than good control of the mouse...
come on, this is a complete joke. grrrr.

It's not even like she had a load of pron files saved on the computer.

Fajitas!

Recon wrote:

kill someone, a couple of years in jail, show to some porn "accidentally" (we don't know, maybe it was an accident!) 40 ****ing years??? A little excessive is right...

Convicted paedo's can get less.

InFront

But she's only been convicted yet, she hasn't been sentanced. Lets not go jumping to conclusions and presuming she's already been handed down 40 years! The article says she will be sentanced on March 2nd

gandalf

The fact she has been convicted for what is an obvious case of Spyware infection is so backward its unbelieveable. I work for an IT Security company and this is a common type of infection and one that can be very hard to clear from a system.

The people responsible for this are the school Management who obviously did not have the infrastructure in place to deal with all the threats that are out there when you network PC's onto the internet.

InFront

Well in fairness, continued use of the computer in the classroom, knowing this material was on it, was inappropriate.
I'm not saying this woman deserves a prison sentance, we're not even sure if she will get one, but she saud "the popups never went away", they "were continuous"... so day 1, pull the plug!

gandalf

Inappropriate yes, does that warrant a criminal conviction, imho no. A awful lot of people tend to panic in situations like this and don't even think about pulling the plug.

Also from reading the reports it appears the Jury made their mind up before all the evidence was heard. I would hope this gets turned over when she appeals, then again given she was convicted in the first place anything is possible.

Mossy Monk

some joke tbh. up to 40 years :eek:

haunted-room

Oh!, I remember about a year ago, my cousine was on the computer trying to buy some type of shampoo or something. And all of a sudden, there were a few porn type pop ups that came out of nowhere. That hadnt happened before and I was there showing her how to use the computer when it happened and she didnt click on anything....I dont remember what the name of the site was as it came up in a search
Wonder if its the same site mentioned in the article...

monkeyfudge

The school is at fault here for not have proper security measures on the network.

Most school teachers wouldn't have a great deal of IT knowledge, but might know that it's bad to yank the plug out on a computer that is still running.

I'd be surprised if stuff like doesn't happen all the time. My 10 year old Nephew has computer classes in Primary School and the teacher's input amounts to telling the kids to find something educational on the internet.

Ruu_Old

Give her another 10 years, the durteh fecker!

Rb

monkeyfudge wrote:

The school is at fault here for not have proper security measures on the network.

Most school teachers wouldn't have a great deal of IT knowledge, but might know that it's bad to yank the plug out on a computer that is still running.

I'd be surprised if stuff like doesn't happen all the time. My 10 year old Nephew has computer classes in Primary School and the teacher's input amounts to telling the kids to find something educational on the internet.

I agree about the schools being at least partially responsible for not providing proper security on their computers, especially if the children have access to the computers some sort of nanny software should have been running to block pop-ups and access to certain websites.

However, all she had to do was turn off the monitor. Simple as. Relatively innocent mistake though, if she gets 40 years for it it'll be an absolute disgrace. I very much doubt she intended on showing the kids pornography and spyware with porn pop-ups is a relatively common threat to unsecure PCs. Hopefully she'll get off the hook on this, it would be sad to see someone locked up for the best part of their lives because of this.

Does she even deserve to lose her job over it?I don't really think so, maybe be moved to another school, but even losing your job for such a stupid thing is excessive, especially seeing as the school most certainly had its part to play in this.

Guy:Incognito

Everyone is missing the real issue here. Those bloody americans should have their own place names. I thought ths was in England.:)

Dave!

She'll never get 40 years, it'll be reduced drastically if she appeals!

hiscan

me too even so 40 years ffs





i was replying to stekelly

InFront

Norwich in America? Argh. I was wondering that felony jargon was about.

If I were her I'd get my ass outta there and seek asylum in some safe democracy like Bahrain or Afghanistan or somewhere.

Kur4mA

Ok, I WAS going to say that my mind boggles at the thought of someone getting up to 40 years imprisonment for something that was clearly accidental and also the schools fault for not having any anti-spyware/popup software in place.

But then I realised that this incident took place in America. Sure fúck it lads, give the dirty cow the death penalty. That'll learn her AND keep them kids safe from the evil pornography. :rolleyes:

Judt

I'd say this one is a shoe-in for an appeal.

faceman

No surprise here, since when does america get their sentencing right? Should have given her the chair!

On a blog, and a few other sites:

The court actions of the case were flawed as well. For example, one source reports that the Trial Judge, Hillary Strackbein, "was seen falling asleep during proceedings and made comments to the jury that she wanted the case over by the end of the week. It was also reported that Judge Strackbein attempted to pressure the defense into an unwanted plea deal, in place of a trial. The defense attorney for Amero, moved for a mistrial shortly before closing arguments Friday, based on reports that jurors had discussed the case at a local restaurant."

ArthurDent

I agrre that a sentence of 40 years excessive, however - she was accessing material in school that was at the very least inappropriate and I would feel that she should be sacked and also charged - wtf was she doing looking at these sites on a computer accessible to school children in her charge

But Smith countered Horner's testimony with that of Norwich Police Detective Mark Lounsbury, a computer crimes investigator. On a projected image of the list of Web sites visited while Amero was working, Lounsbury pointed out several highlighted links.
"You have to physically click on it to get to those sites," Smith said. "I think the evidence is overwhelming that she did intend to access those Web sites."
Among the sites Amero visited were meetlovers.com and femalesexual.com, along with others with more graphic names.

Beelzebub

faceman wrote:

No surprise here, since when does america get their sentencing right? Should have given her the chair!

It's death by lethal injection in the state of Connecticut.

Executions since 1977: 0

So it's highly unlikely that she'll be executed...:D

But seriously...

There is no justice in the U.S. - it's a country out of control...

Beelzebub

Stekelly wrote:

Everyone is missing the real issue here. Those bloody americans should have their own place names. I thought ths was in England.:)

Me too!

Now if they had called it New Norwich!

ArthurDent

ArthurDent wrote:

But Smith countered Horner's testimony with that of Norwich Police Detective Mark Lounsbury, a computer crimes investigator. On a projected image of the list of Web sites visited while Amero was working, Lounsbury pointed out several highlighted links.
"You have to physically click on it to get to those sites," Smith said. "I think the evidence is overwhelming that she did intend to access those Web sites."
Among the sites Amero visited were meetlovers.com and femalesexual.com, along with others with more graphic names.

http://www.benedelman.org/news/062206-1.html

Black Swan

They hang them high in Bushyland.

If you get a 40year jail sentence for looking at porn in public places then i'm pretty sure a few people I know would be in jail for the best part of an eternity.

Rb

Deleted User wrote:

If you get a 40year jail sentence for looking at porn in public places then i'm pretty sure a few people I know would be in jail for the best part of an eternity.

In front of kids?!

Wouldn't be at all surprised TBH.

Rb

Deleted User wrote:

Wouldn't be at all surprised TBH.

You're really just covering your own ass by saying "people I know" aren't you?

Uh... no ... of course not.

Damn

Rb

Deleted User wrote:

Uh... no ... of course not.

Damn

Its ok, sure they have to learn somehow, don't they ?!

Damn right.

In some respects it's good sex education-- they can learn how to do everything from the "professionals"! In fact meetlovers.com and femalesexual.com should be a part of the curriculum!

FlutterinBantam

Are you being deliberately obtuse ,or just trying to stir things up AGAIN RB?

ArthurDent

bluewolf wrote:

http://www.benedelman.org/news/062206-1.html

I accept that the popups were not searched for or wanted, but surely it says that she visited the other sites - not that they were just pop ups - or do pop-ups show up in the history search the same way searched for/accessed pages do?

Rb

FlutterinBantam wrote:

Are you being deliberately obtuse ,or just trying to stir things up AGAIN RB?

Certainly not trying to stir things up anyway.

DonkeyStyle \o/

When I fist saw this thread I thought "hmm what a great prank to play on a substitute teacher!".
I don't see what the big fking deal is tbh, the kids are probably all surfing porn as soon as she leaves the room anyway. :rolleyes:
The network admin needs jail time for being such a negligent twat.

Earthhorse

Stekelly wrote:

Everyone is missing the real issue here. Those bloody americans should have their own place names. I thought ths was in England.:)

Not only is the place called Norwich but the pub where the jury had lunch was called the Harp and Dragon. How more English can you get?

rb_ie wrote:

You're really just covering your own ass...

That'll only reduce the sentence by two years max.

Judt

Where's the school in all of this? They did allow their net nanny software license to lapse...

InFront

Well since the people who looked at the computer have said that the teacher accessed these sites, couldn't it be the case that she turned this function off to view pornography?

poobum

what i question is...if they said the computer had been used to access such sites...well, could it of been the kids? wheni was in primirary school amount of the 6th class who tried to look up pron as sson as teacher turned back, and if they hadnt any software to prevent it..they could of! when you go through a computers hard-drive to see what has been accessed, does it have a log of when or who done it?

gandalf

InFront wrote:

Well since the people who looked at the computer have said that the teacher accessed these sites, couldn't it be the case that she turned this function off to view pornography?

No it was stated in some of the further coverage that the school allow the licenses to lapse. If it was a subscription based service that would mean it probably ceased to function.

InFront

Tbh although I think the teacher was to blame for letting this go on, since someone pointed out that this is an American case and not a British one I'm not really assuming the authorities/ jury did a good job anymore.

It's a bit like someone pointing out that it happened in Yemen.

Victor

So, what sentence should noobs get for showing pr0n to 12 year olds?

Package

i have, as many of us have, looked at porn on the net on purpose,, but on several occasions it has been thrown at me, and no amount of closing down windows could stop it...

i never thought id say it, but at times, ive never been more happy to get rid of the porn sites,, after closing 20 or 30 screens.

Judt

Package wrote:

i have, as many of us have, looked at porn on the net on purpose,, but on several occasions it has been thrown at me, and no amount of closing down windows could stop it...

i never thought id say it, but at times, ive never been more happy to get rid of the porn sites,, after closing 20 or 30 screens.

Frantically trying to close them while somebody is walking up the stairs? Some people have to pay for that kind of adrenaline rush...

shane86

Calm down, dont you ever read the newspapers?

"Whatever actor was arrested for assault in LA. If convicted he faces up to 20 years in prison"

"Rapper X was arrested with guns in his vehicle. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in jail"

Americans love threatening these sentences. Few people ever actually get them. It just catches the eye for a news story.

Tar.Aldarion

The system is impeccable.