Another legal kafuffle showing serious lack of perspective

[Goofball]

Man, and I thought 10 years for a consensual round of hummer was harsh.

This woman has been convicted of exposing minors to porn and now faces up to 40 years in prison. Now, let's forget for a moment that the case against her is dubious at best, and the jury seems to have convicted her based on a knee-jerk reaction, as (from what is described in the article at least) there is certainly reasonable doubt as to whether she intended to expose the kids to porn in the first place. As far as I can see, her most serious offence is not being very Internet savvy.

But 40 years? I could rape and murder a seventh grader and be out of jail in less time than that.

Now, the judge hasn't passed sentence yet but I will be anxious to see: will he show a modicum of common sense and let her off with a suspended sentence, or will he give her 40 years "for the kids?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17134607/

[Marshal Murat]

Ooops! Sorry about kicking you man, it's a reaction to
bullfeces

It's to bad about the situation.
I really disliked the quote about 'unplugging it or throwing a coat over it'.
What substitute is carrying around a coat? Would she know how to unplug a monitor? There are alot of cables back there.

[Xiahou]

John Newsone, a defense attorney in Norwich familiar with the case, said Amero might be spared prison or face perhaps a year to 18 months.

That sounds a little more reasonable. No matter what kind of technophobe you are, how tough is it to turn off a monitor?

[drone]

I'm sure this generation's seventh graders have seen much worse than what popped up on the screen. If they don't already know how to access pr0n on the web at that age, they need to take remedial computer classes.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Prison for showing kids porn? That's utterly ridiculous.

What's next, hard time for dad because little Jimmy found his Playboys?

[Blodrast]

It seems utterly ridiculous to me that so many people cannot comprehend the simple fact that if you have a computer running windows connected to the Internet, and you don't use a firewall and a whole bunch of anti-malware software, yeah, you'll get a lot of malware, including popups, including porn. I mean, are all the jurors, the judge, and everybody else involved, completely ignorant about the 'net and what it's all about ? C'mon, gimme a break.

If there's one thing she's guilty of, is not turning it off (either the monitor, or the whole thing).
Nothing else. Ridiculous.
Unless the prosecuter can prove that she intentionally installed pr0n popups on that machine, it's not her fault at all - unless she was supposed to be responsible, and in charge of, keeping that computer up to date with firewalls, anti-malware software, etc (which obviously was not the case).

[Crazed Rabbit]

40 years is absurd (and would make her wish she had taken up a life of killing and kidnapping people in Germany instead), but I'm going to wait until the actual sentencing takes place before getting mad.

As Xiahou pointed out - it isn't that hard to turn off a computer screen, is it?

CR

[Blodrast]

As a side note, I have seen/met many people whose mentality with respect to computers, or other similarly complicated modern appliances (receivers, amplifiers, etc), was "No, you do it, I don't know how to work that thing", and they would literally not touch it because "they didn't know how to use it". I've also seen slightly more knowledgeable people, who, while able to click around and start their browser, the moment they are supposed to do something else, that they've never done before, suddenly turn into dummies, and have no clue about it.

In either case, since she IS a teacher, she should have been even more knowledgeable about the whole thing, than just shutting off a monitor. Otherwise she shouldn't have been permitted to use the damn thing.

[Hosakawa Tito]

I guess this is an extreme example of what can happen when one puts their fate in the hands of a jury, as opposed to a trial before a jurist. Hopefully the judge will impose a more reasonable sentence.

[InsaneApache]

Prison for showing kids porn? That's utterly ridiculous.

What's next, hard time for dad because little Jimmy found his Playboys?

It beggers belief doesn't it?

The worlds just arse about face IMO.

[Strike For The South]

Im sure these kids are going to be scarred for life. My God it was an accident give the gal a break

[KukriKhan]

Principal Scott Fain said the computer lacked the latest firewall protection because a vendor’s bill had gone unpaid. “I was shocked to see what made it through,” he said.

There's the guilty (or at least more culpable) guy. 40 years = travesty of justice.

[Fisherking]

A Jury heard this and convicted?
What happened here?
It all sounds too incredible to me. There must be something more to this!

Principal Scott Fain said the computer lacked the latest firewall protection because a vendor’s bill had gone unpaid. “I was shocked to see what made it through,” he said.

That should have gotten it off the docket.

“What is extraordinary is the prosecution admitted there was no search made for spyware — an incredible blunder akin to not checking for fingerprints at a crime scene,” Alex Eckelberry, president of a Florida software company, wrote recently in the local newspaper. “When a pop-up occurs on a computer, it will get shown as a visited Web site, and no ‘physical click’ is necessary.”
Don't blame here as the only tech idiot…there are a lot more of them.

I only hope it is overturned on appeal….what a waste of government time and money to get a convection…not to mention that this should be more of an harassment case on her behalf.


I would also add that both judge and jury need to be bared from court and have their heads examined….but they would screw that up too.