Reality Out of Focus: Julie Amero's Raging Internet Porn Addiction

On October 19th, 2004, as several seventh-graders at the Kelly Middle School in Norwich, CT perused a website about hair, something triggered an onslaught of adult-oriented pop-ups and pictures. Julie Amero, a substitute teacher, had just returned to the classroom when she saw the images take hold of the saintly children and place them on lifelong road of mental anguish and destitution. Her reaction was swift and effective, given the urgency in removing these titillating images from the view of children.

That night, the children had a response for "What did you learn in school today?"

The parents were freaking out as Amero tried to explain what happened.

"The pop-ups never went away. It was one after another," she testified. "They were continuous. Every time I clicked the box in the corner, the red box, the red X, more were generated."

The school tried their hand at damage control by sending home a notice telling parents part of what they wanted to hear- that Amero would no longer be teaching at the Kelly Middle School. Soon after she was arrested and charged with multiple felonies.

Once in the courtroom, the prosecution disagreed with Amero's actions. They contend that she is a raging Internet porn addict who just couldn't put her needs on hold while in the company of 13-year-olds. They argued that the "click and shoo" method used by Amero was far less superior to the "jacket hideaway" or the preferred, sure-fire technique of "plug pull". State Prosecutor David "guilty because I say so" Smith always gets his woman and has refused to accept any evidence that would question his insanity.

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

Judge Hillary Strackbein has also saved common sense for another day. Her brilliant self felt that the inclusion of facts from the defense simply had no place in her Connecticut court room.

Arguing that the computer was infested with spyware and malware was simply hearsay and couldn't possibly have any bearing on the case.

Of the 42 discovered spyware/adware programs, 27 were accessed before October 19th, 2004.

An outdated antivirus program and no firewall were in use after the school failed to renew their IT contract.

One of the sites visited by students, http://new-hair-styles.com, had pornographic links; pop-ups were then initiated by http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com, thus starting the loop.

"All of the jpg's that we looked at in the internet cache folders were of the 5, 6 and 15 kB size, very small images indeed. Normally, when a person goes to a pornographic website they are interested in the larger pictures of greater resolution and those jpgs would be at least 35 kB and larger. We found no evidence of where this kind of surfing was exercised on October 19, 2004." says W. Herbert Horner, owner of Contemporary Computer Consultants and a computer forensic examiner for the defense

After the guilty verdict, Homer stated- "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."

Nobody seemed interested in how the images got there, only that Amero didn't do enough, in their perfect opinion, to remove the images from view.

To become a teacher, an individual must have a college degree, go through a background check and pass several certification courses- but first the individual must make a commitment. Their best interest is with our children and we need to return the trust in their judgment. Furthermore, in the pursuit of justice, why does a victory for the prosecution outweigh the presentation of potential proof of innocence?

Found guilty, Julie Amero now faces 40 years in prison- four felony counts at ten years each. Her sentencing is March 2nd, 2007. The ignorance of her accusers has already cost the Amero's over $20,000.

References:
W. Herbert Horner, "The Strange Case of Ms. Julie Amero." www.networkperformancedaily.com
URL: www.networkperformancedaily.com/2007/01/the_strange_case_of_ms_julie_a_1.html

Greg Smith, "Teacher guilty in Norwich porn case." Norwich Bulletin
URL: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/NEWS01/701060312/1002/NEWS17

Greg Smith, "Amero's conviction stirs heated debate." Norwich Bulletin
URL: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070225/NEWS01/702250338/1002

Steve Bass , "A Note to the Amero Case Juror." PC World: Steve Bass's Tips & Tweaks
URL: http://blogs.pcworld.com/tipsandtweaks/archives/003779.html