Mr. Belair is currently a Sergeant with the Norwich Police Department, and has been employed there for 13 years. He was assigned to investigate the case around October 27th.

On direct examination, we learn that:

• He first met with Dr. Frechette (superintendent of NPS), who told him of the complaint; he then met with Mr. Fain (principal of Kelly Middle School), who also advised him about the complaint, and said that there was a computer that had to be taken.
• He then seized the computer, took it back to the police department, and logged it as evidence.
• The only adults he talked to were Dr. Frechette, Mr. Fain, and Mr. Hartz (IT manager).
• He spoke with several minors, all of whom told him that they had seen something inappropriate on the computer.
• After looking through computer logs provided to him, he went to various sites listed, and determined “that they were pornographic in nature”.

On cross, we learn that Sgt. Belair never saw anybody using the computer and visiting the websites.

I’m a bit surprised that he never mentioned talking to Ms. Amero. Its highly unusual not to talk to the suspect. So did he not talk to her, or did he not mention it because it is assumed that he did?

Transcript

Sentencing in the case has been continued again - for the third time since March.

In March, the defense asked for more time since additional attorneys had been added post conviction. The second and third continuances have been at the request of the State, which may signal that they are taking a closer look at the case and at what is wrong with the fact that the case has made it this far.

“The state has not completed a full examination of all the issues which may affect its position at the sentencing hearing,” was Smith’s written explanation.
New London County State’s Attorney Michael Regan said because the case is pending he could not elaborate on any details. But, Regan said, “Issues have been raised by the defense. In general, we have an obligation and a duty to make sure justice is done.”
(emphasis mine)

In this case, the only way justice will be served is for the State to ask the Court to vacate the verdict, and to dismiss all charges. And of course, a nice check and apology from the state.

Norwich Bulletin

Why can’t I update more regularly than I have been? I’m not that busy that I can’t write a post a day, but it seems that I just don’t get around to it. Sentencing is on Thursday (unless it’s postponed again), and I want to get this series done before then. All that means is that I have to do three or four posts a day, nothing big.
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Mr. Hartz was, and currently still is, the Information Services manager for the Norwich school district in October 2004. Prior to being employed by Norwich, he worked for mainframe manufacturers in the 1960’s - 1970’s, and did consulting work after that. He was responsible for almost everything tech; the servers, the workstations, and everything else needed to make sure the network ran.

On the 20th of October, he was asked to take a look at a computer that was suspected of being used to access inappropriate websites the previous day. The first thing he did when he logged onto the machine was record its IP address. Every computer on a network has a specific IP address that identifies that computer; even your computer has an IP address right now, because the internet itself is one large network. After that, he took a look at the cookies, which he says didn’t tell him anything. After that, Mr. Hartz looked at the temporary internet files that were stored on the computer.

He testified that the first thing he had seen that was visited that day was AOL.com; this makes sense since Ms. Amero used the computer to check her email. Mr. Hartz also said that there was a file for Orbitz.com; this could be from an advertisement, or she could have visited the site. He then testified that he saw sites that had been visited around 9:30 that caused him to believe that the computer had been used to view sites that were inappropriate for school.

After talking about the files on the computer, Mr. Hartz talked about the network firewall, and the entries that were in the firewall from that day that concerned the computer in Mr. Napp’s classroom. The firewall log corroborated what was on the classroom computer (how could it not? It would have to be taken off of school property for that to happen).

After talking about the computer and the firewall, testimony turned to filtering software. What we learned here is that the filtering software had not been updating correctly, and then new sites that should have been blocked were not. Mr. Hartz testified that all of the workstations had anti-virus software on them. The direct questioning ended with this:

Q: Okay. And as a person involved in the computer field, do you know of viruses that would allow a computer to be infected and to cause those computers to access random websites against the user’s wishes?
A: I haven’t seen anything like that, nor have I heard of anything like that.

Now, I know I’m only 21, haven’t been around computers as long as this guy, and haven’t graduated college yet, and haven’t even spent two years playing with viruses yet, but I have heard of, and have seen, infections that cause (not so) random websites show up. Granted, this is almost two and a half years later, but it is certainly possible that the same viruses existed back then that do now. The basic rule that I always think of is if a virus writer wants a computer to do something, he’ll figure out a way to get it done. And getting a computer to go to a website isn’t all that hard compared to some other things.

On cross, Mr. Hartz was asked to define adware, spyware, and viruses. His answers were right on the money, as I’d expect them to be. He testified that nothing was installed on the computer recently to the date in question and that spyware and adware do not generate pornography (comment: they don’t generate anything per se, but display anything that they are programmed to, which can include pornography). He then testified that the name of a website does not always have any relevance to what kind of content is on the site, and that one can click on an innocent looking ad, but be taken to a porn site.

Transcript

Ms. Whittaker was a sign language interpreter that was assigned to one of the students that had a class with Mr. Napp. Basically, her job was to help facilitate communications between the teacher and the student, and between the student and the rest of the class. Her student had a class with Mr. Napp on the day the Ms. Amero was substituting. After introducing herself to Ms. Amero, Ms. Whittaker stood in the front of the class for the instructional part of the class, and then sat with her student while the class did work.

She testified that Ms. Amero was using the computer exclusively, and that she never saw what was on the screen. She said that Ms. Amero never indicated to her that there was a problem with the computer, and that the only time she mentioned leaving the classroom was when she needed to use the bathroom. Ms. Whittaker told her that she was not permitted to supervise students.

On cross examination, it was clarified that Ms. Amero never left the classroom. The rest of the cross examination (and then redirect), was just clarifying semantics.

Transcript

After a brief break in posting (I worked all weekend), it is time to resume taking a look at the Julie Amero transcript. Seeing as I go home tomorrow for the weekend (no class Friday), I should be able to write the rest of the posts, and then just schedule them to be posted.

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Once you get past the preliminary stuff (how long he had been teaching, why he was not in the building that day, etc.), Mr. Napp testified to the fact that when he logged onto the computer in the morning, before any students were in the class, there were no popups of any kind, and that he did not remember ever seeing any popups on the computer. The only interaction he had with Ms. Amero lasted about two minutes, just a “here are the lesson plans” kind of thing.

Q: At some point on October 19th, 2004, did you learn information about what may have occurred in your classroom?
A: That night. Earlier in the year, I had given the kids as a way of extra contact my screen name for instant messages for either parents’ questions or their questions for work. And it was about 6:00 or 7:00, I go an instant message from one of my students stating that –

The defense then objected (hearsay), and the objection was sustained.

Commentary:
Umm…he gave his students his screen name? Guess the Master’s program he was in didn’t have a CYA 101. See, the problem with most instant messengers back in 2004 was that there wasn’t a built in function to log the sessions. Just imagine if a student claimed that he sent sexual messages - he would have no firm evidence to show otherwise. This is why you give the students an email address, preferably one provided by the school. I never had the screen name of any school employee, teacher or otherwise, until the summer going into my Senior year, and then it was a tech guy that was serving as content consultant for my senior project.

He then went on to testify about how he went into work early the next day, and took a look at the history, and visited some of the pages to confirm what exactly they were. He then emailed the principal for further instructions. Later that day, they both went through and looked at content, and then called in the IT professional for the district. The IT professional then took a look at things, and printed some things out (logs and such, not the websites).

During cross examination, Mr. Napp testified about how the room was set up. The teacher computer was situated so he could be using it, and still see when kids came in. He mentioned that the room was set up in such a way that only a few row of students were able to see the monitor.

Transcript

I take a short break from the Julie Amero series to say that I have upgraded WordPress to verion 2.1.3. I have also added a few things to the site, namely the Amazon store. If you are planning on buying anything from amazon.com, please use the link in the store as I get a commission. Also, if there is something you’d like me to list in the store, leave a comment or get in touch with me so I can add it.