Got root?

In June 2007, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein set aside the totally bogus conviction of substitute teacher, Julie Amero.

Amero, you may remember, was the substitute teacher accused of 30-odd counts of risk of injury to a minor, alleging that she allowed seventh grade students to view pornography. Ultimately, Judge Strackbein set aside the conviction because it was clear that the Norwich Police Department totally screwed up the investigation. In fact, the Norwich Police Department appeared to be as computer-illiterate as Julie Amero.

The Norwich School District failed to take the simplest precautions to protect their computers from spyware, and instead tried to blame a substitute teacher for the flood of pop-ups that occurred on the computer.

Amazingly enough, this case is still open on the books. The State won’t seek dismissal of charges, probably because they are trying to save face.

Here is a link to the most recent column by Rick Green that describes the current state of this travesty.

In this day and age, where taser-happy police departments routinely trample people’s civil rights, encouraged by a government that things nothing of routinely spying on its own people, the Connecticut State’s Attorney should step up to the plate and get this case off the books by requesting that charges against Amero be dismissed. If nothing else, it might help restore the faith of the people in a small part of their government.