Julie Amero, substitute teacher, was convicted, of exposing children in her classroom Internet porn.  I believe this is a great injustice. I’ve read she was told to let the kids use the computer and not to turn it off.  I’ve also read the computer was an old Windows 95 system.  My experience tells me this computer was not well maintained.  I’d place a bet that it had never been updated. Evidence of this is the fact that the computer was running Internet Exployer 5.  IE5 is very old.

The computer forensics examiner W. Herbert Horner confirmed everything she said: The computer was infected before she got there, a site visited that morning caused the pop-ups to start, and the porn was the result of pop-ups, not deliberate action.  The judge didn’t let Horner give his full testimony.  Horner later said, “This was one of the most frustrating experiences of my career, knowing full well that the person is innocent and not being allowed to provide logical proof.

Some have said she should have just turned off the computer. But the harm was already done. Turning off the computer wouldn’t have helped.

I believe the people responsible are the administrators of the school system of Norwich. It took a lot of neglect of what the Internet is like and how computer vulnerabilities are found everyday to put such a system in a classroom.

Now Julie Amero may get some help. Connecticut criminal defense lawyer William Dow has stepped in and offered help to Julie Amero.

I’m wondering if other children in the Norwich school district are at risk?