Connecticut Finally Drops Charges Against Julie Amero

from the too-little-too-late dept

In a case of what appears to unfortunately be "too little, too late" Techmeme points us to the news that Connecticut officials have finally agreed to drop felony charges against Julie Amero. As you may recall, Julie Amero was a substitute teacher who was randomly surfing some webpages on a classroom computer while students were working on some projects. On one webpage, the computer started opening a never ending series of windows showing pornographic pictures -- symptomatic of a computer infected with some malicious spyware. However, Connecticut police and prosecutors chose to try Amero on felony charges, threatening to put her in jail for 40 years, and getting a conviction.

After numerous security experts brought attention to the case, a judge finally granted a new trial, and Connecticut police and officials refused to admit a mistake and still intended to try Amero. However, as noted above, the state finally worked out an agreement with Amero, where the state dropped most of the charges, after Amero agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of disorderly conduct (a misdemeanor) and give up her teacher's license. The article also notes that, due in part to stress from the case, Amero has been hospitalized and is in declining health.

It's great that Connecticut finally decided to drop the charges, but the whole thing remains a travesty. It's unclear what Amero did that was "disorderly conduct" or why she deserves to lose her teacher's license. On top of that, the fact that the state still refuses to admit its mistakes in the case is a tremendous shame. A bunch of technically illiterate folks basically destroyed this woman's life and still stand by what they did.

Filed Under: connecticut, julie amero, malware

Connecticut Still Wants To Try Julie Amero

from the sickening dept

You may recall the case of Julie Amero, a substitute teacher in Connecticut who was found guilty of charges that she had showed pornography to children in her classroom, and who faced 40 years in jail. The problem was that the police and the prosecutors seemed unable to understand what had actually happened. The computer in the classroom had been infected by malware, which tossed up porn pop-up ads. It wasn't that she was surfing porn, but that the computer had malware. As news of this wrongful conviction got out, more and more security experts tried to explain to everyone involved why Amero was not the guilty party. Eventually, the judge agreed, and struck down the guilty verdict.

However, the state still has not dropped the case.

In fact, as reader Phil K lets us know, the state has no intention of dropping the case, and appears to want a new trial. No one involved in the case will explain why they won't drop it. In fact, they won't even apologize for what was clearly a wrongful prosecution in the first place. The prosecutors, the police and the school Amero worked for haven't said a word. The fact that they're planning to go through another trial over this matter suggests they still don't even realize what they did.

Filed Under: connecticut, julie amero, malware