A judge had overturned the conviction of the former Norwich, Ct. substitute teacher (Jul. 15, Mar. 14 and Jun. 10, 2007, etc.) over the episode in which her computer (almost certainly infected with unwanted malware) displayed a stream of dirty popup windows while her students were watching. To the amazement of many, prosecutors refused to drop the charges and moved to hold a second trial. Now Amero has agreed to resolve the episode by pleading down to a single misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, as opposed to the 40 years she could have gotten on the original charges. (Rick Green, “Misdemeanor Plea Ends Norwich P0rnography Case”, Hartford Courant, Nov. 22).
More: “What I’d like to see come of it is a computer forensics innocence project.” (Joe Windish, The Moderate Voice; see also Balko/Reason “Hit and Run”, Bill Jempty @ WizBang, Rick Green @ Courant followup).
5 Comments
While it is good to see that Ms. Amero is not going to jail, it is hard to see this as a real victory. A woman who is as far as we can tell wholly innocent has nonetheless been forced to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and to give up her teaching license. That is not justice for someone who deserves complete exhoneration.
i completely agree this is spyware you cant be blamed for the action of a third party
When does she sue the school district over failing to protect her from this by following their own rules about anti-virus software.
I plan on writing to Dick Blumenthal about this. This is a travesty in the sense of proper procedure of evidence collection and interpretation.
This case should never have come to trial never mind coming to this conclusion of a misdemeanor conviction to appease the uninformed prosecution.
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