Since the last action on this case was 20 days ago, I’ve decided that this will be the last post about the case until something new has happened. So what does this mean? It means that I won’t be writing about the rest of the testimony, even though it may mean that I don’t get some of the traffic that I would get if I did write about it.

On June 6, 2007, Judge Hillary B. Strackbein vacated the jury’s guilty verdict, and ordered a new trial. In her decision, she stated acknowledged the computer forensic examination conducted by the State Crime Lab that was conducted after the trial, and that the defense team showed that there was a possibility of “erroneous” facts were presented to the jury by the State’s “expert” witness (Lounsbury himself has said he isn’t an expert), and that the jury may have relied on that misinformation in reaching their decision.

The Judge criticized bloggers, saying that they tried to “improperly influence” the court. I’m sure that influencing the court was not the main reason that many people wrote about this case. At least in my case, I wrote about to inform the public about this, due to the fact that many people do not use an updated anti-virus, don’t use a firewall, and often times may not install security updates, or any updates at all.

David Smith, the Assistant State’s Attorney that prosecuted the case said the State would take no position on the motion for a new trial, meaning it is unlikely that there will not be a new trial. Hopefully the State will decide not to try the case again, knowing that the outcome will be the correct one this time around.

WARNING: After the double-line, I begin to summarize the series finale, so stop reading at the line if you don’t want to know.

After 10 years of saving the world an innumerable number of times, SG-1 is finally ending. There are only a handful of shows now that are one Sci-Fi that I will be watching that are airing new shows when the new season begins. Of course, I will still be watching reruns of SG-1, but it’s just not the same as watching new episodes.

Speaking of new episodes, part of what was painful about watching this finale was that I haven’t seen many of the episodes of season 10. It’s hard to watch sci-fi shows on a college campus, and since I worked on Friday’s. I hope Sci-Fi airs season 10 episodes again over the summer.

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SUMMARY STARTS HERE:

The start of the episode shows the SG-1 team travelling aboard the Odyssey to meet with the Asgard. They arrive at the Asgard base, and Thor beams aboard. He tells the team that Asgard techs area coming aboard to upgrade and install new Asgard tech on the ship. SG-1 asks why - and Thor informs them that the Asgard, as a race, are dying. The Odyssey will be the Asgard’s final legacy.

After the opening sequence, we see Thor working with Carter to help upgrade the hyperdrive. Suddenly, Ori motherships appear, and begin to attack the Asgard planet, and the ship SG-1 is on. The planet is destroyed; an Ori ship begins to attack SG-1. Using the Asgard weapons, the mothership is destroyed without much of a fight, although the Odyssey takes some damage. General Landry orders the ship to hyperspace.

Col. Carter discovers same strange readings, and they drop out of hyperspace. Then an Ori ship appears, and a small fight ensues, with the Ori ship destroyed. They go back to hyperspace, and Carter thinks that something with the hyperdrive and the Asgard tech is giving away their position. They drop out of hyperspace, and the same thing occurs.

After a quick meeting, they decide to head to a planet where they can beam the crew home. General Landry and SG-1 stay aboard the Odyssey to fight, not wanting the Asgard tech to fall into the hands of the Ori. Three Ori motherships appear, and when it looks like an Ori beam is going to hit and pierce the Odyssey’s hull, Cart engages a time dilation field, that makes it so years inside the field appear to be just split seconds outside.

The next few minutes show Carter trying to recreate some of Merlin’s tech, Col. Mitchell running, Daniel reading some of the information the Asgard left them. Teal’c is organizing the ship’s stores, while being annoyed by Vala, who is rambling on about something.

Another brief meeting, it is learned that Carter’s original plan will not work; nor is will beaming down to the planet, or using the F-302’s to escape. Colonel Mitchell is not happy with this, and General Landry tells everyone to give Carter more time.

Vala wants a relationship with Daniel…Daniel says no, and goes on a bit of a rant about why he doesn’t want to. Vala starts to cry, although she doesn’t let Daniel see it, but Daniel does when he’s done with his rant, and he realizes that Vala is serious. (Mitchell sees Vala leaving Daniel’s room, and you can tell by the expression on his facethat he is puzzled). Mitchell tells Landry that they need to take their chances with the F-302’s, and Landry tells him, flat out, that they won’t, and to not bring it up again.

Carter is sitting at a table, trying to work when Vala walks in and informs her that she wants to help. We see the team eating a meal: Mitchell suggests (jokingly, obviously) having superman fly around the Odyssey. There is a montage: Christmas dinner; Mitchell and Landry playing chess; Daniel consoling Vala; Mitchell going nuts and throwing things; Carter trying several different ideas, only to be told that it is not possible by an Asgard hologram. At the end of the montage, General Landry is an old man, and we find out that it has been 20 years since the time dilation field has been activated.

Carter asks Daniel why he still reads the Asgard information. He says that if he does, he’ll go crazy. Carter says she’s given up. We see Landry is a sickbay bed - he’s dying, and tells a crying Carter not to give up. We see SG-1 at the table, upset, so one can only assume that Landry has died.

50 years have now gone by since the field was started, and SG-1 is sitting down to eat. Carter says that she’s figured out how to reverse time in a localized field - there’s just one problem: they don’t have enough energy left to accomplish it. Mitchell shows Carter the Ori beam, and then Carter figures a way that they can absorbs the beam’s power when it hits them, so that they can reverse time. They can go back to the time when the field was created, but they will lose all memory of the past 50 years. That requires one of the team to stay old so they know what to do. Teal’c volunteers to stay outside the time field. We cut to the room Daniel and Vala share, where he tells her that he wasn’t with her all that time just because they were on the ship

The beam pierces the hull, and the ship is destroyed, but only for a few seconds until the reverse time initiates. Then it is reversed, and we are where it started. Carter goes to hit the time field button, but teal’s stops her and the ship goes to hyperspace. Back at SGC Vala tries to get Teal’c to tell her what happened. She assumes that she had to have had slept with someone.

Walking into the Operations Center, Landry orders Harriman to dial up the gate – its back to business as usual. SG-1 walks into the gate room, all set for the mission. Mitchell says he bet he went a little crazy; Teal’c smiles, but doesn’t say anything. The following exchange then takes place:

DANIEL: You know, Teal’c did tell me some things I learned from the Asgard knowledge base.
VALA: He did? Like what?
DANIEL: Oh boy, what were they…Beggars can’t be choosers. Better late than never. Look before you leap.
MITCHELL: The best things in life are free.
VALA: Let me guess: beauty is only skin deep?
DANIEL Silence is golden.(looks pointedly at Vala, who smiles back.)
MITCHELL: Jack of all trades; master of none.
CARTER: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
VALA: Life is too short. (Daniel looks at her, and Mitchell smiles at her.)
TEAL’C: Good things come to those who wait.

The seventh chevron locks, and the wormhole engages. Landry wishes them good luck, and Mitchell replies that it’s just another mission to save the world. SG-1 then says Teal’c’s signature “indeed” at once, and Landry wishes them Godspeed. SG-1 walks up the ramp, and goes through the gate. Video fades to black, and credits begin to roll.

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Could that comment by Teal’c about how good things come to those who wait be a hint about the movies? I sure hope so, because I will be buying them when they are released.

Today was sentencing in the Julie Amero case. However, her lawyers filed a motion for a new trial yesterday, and the judge granted the motion today.

The motion, and it being granted, was based on the fact that some of the evidence shown in court was innaccurate…which is no surprise when a company says its product can’t be used to produce the material a witness claims to have gotten from it.

Amero has plead not guilty. No new date has been set for a trial, and I anticipate there being a few pretrial conferences between the judge, the State’s Attorney, and the defense team about the retrial. I can only hope that in the first one they (the judge and SA) realize what a mistake the first trial was, and dismiss the charges.

Note: This was written very quickly (since I was in class) and right after I read about it. As more newspapers update their site, I will be reading those and making a more complete post later.

A short time ago, in backyard down the road…

There was a group of kids…well, teenagers…well, young adults, since they are all 18+…

This group liked to watch wrestling, ya know, WWE’s RAW and SmackDown!, and ECW. One day, they decided to wrestle each other, and taped it. Some of the videos went on youtube; infact, all of them did.

But as time went on, interests changed. The group kept saying that they would do another video, but alas, nothing every happened.

And now their site is down. Why? Because the person hosting it needed the space it occupied. Who knows…maybe one day the host’s site will be doing so well that he needs more space than he already has (which is a real possibility if something good happens)…in which case the WWWOW site will put back online, because only the files are being removed, the database entries it made are staying intact.

The End?

This witness was the second to last witness called by the State, and was a student in Mr. Napp’s homeroom period.

According to his testimony, Ms. Amero spent most of the period at the computer. Eventually, he had to throw something away, and he was able to see what was on the screen.

Q: As best as you can, what type of images did you see on the computer?
A: I saw naked males and females having sexual intercourse.
Q: Sexual intercourse. What type in general, was it all?
A: All

Now, just to play a semantics devil’s advocate, did Mr. Smith really mean what type of sexual intercourse, or did he mean positions? When I hear sexual intercourse, I think of vaginal penetration, so unless there’s a woman with two, there is only one kind. Even looking up the definition of sexual intercourse on Google results in only one definition that mentions vaginal, oral, and anal.

Transcript

This witness testified that Ms. Amero tried to use her body to block the monitor when he went up to print some work out. He was still able to see what was on the monitor.

Q: Were you able to see past her?
A: Yes, I was.
Q: What did you see on that computer screen?
A: Women in lingerie.
Q: Okay. Real people?
A: Real people, yes.
Q: And how were they standing in lingerie?
A: Just like posing.
[...]
Q: Was their whole body covered?
A: No.
Q: Was it skimpy?
A: Yes, skimpy, that’s the word I was looking for.

The second part of that exchange is important because during cross-examination, the following takes place:

Q: You just testified you saw women clothed scantily?
A: Yes.
Q: Didn’t you say in your statement they were wearing a bathing suit?
A: Well, I was twelve. To me that was a bathing suit.

To me, that is very alarming. Despite some bathing suits showing a lot of skin, wearing one does not make a woman scantily clad. Did this witness see women wearing bathing suits, or were they scantly clad? It is only one or the other, and that is never revealed.

Transcript

Another student brought in to testify, this was the student whose face Ms. Amero pushed away. He testified that he went up to where she was to get some help with his work, and saw two naked females on the screen. She then told him not to look and pushed his face away. He further testified that they were cartoon pictures, and on one, he only saw the upper part of the body, and on the other he saw everything.

On cross examination, he stated that while he discussed the incident with others, the police interview report was based on what he saw. I have a little problem with that. I believe that even though he thinks none of the report was based on the discussions, that some of it might have been. There could have been parts of the incident that he forgot, only to hear about them while talking with his friends.

Transcript

This witness testified that Ms. Amero gave them the work that was left for them to do, and that they worked on it using the student computers, and that Ms. Amero was using the teacher computer the entire class period.

At some point during the class period, he went up to Ms. Amero and saw some pictures. He further described the pictures as the top picture being of a white female and the bottom picture being of a tan, perhaps Spanish, woman. All he remembers of the pictures were that they were standing sideways, that they were not wearing clothes, and he could see their breasts. He also said that he could not see below their hips. He then testified that she told him to go back and sit down, and that he did so.

He also testified about what the previous witness had testified to, her pushing a boy away.

Upon cross-examination, the defense tried to use (what I assumed was) a police report to impeach this witnesses testimony. When answering questions, this witness seemed to contradict what he had earlier said.

Transcript

After reading five pages of preliminary discussion, we get to the main point of this witness’ testimony.

On direct examination, we learn that one of his friends went up to the front of the room to the teacher’s computer and looked over Ms. Amero’s shoulder to see what was on the monitor. When he did this, she shoved his face away. The friend then ran to the back of the room and was quiet for the rest of the day (the friend is normally talkative. He further testified that there were rumors going around the school about what was going on in that class and what Ms. Amero was looking at.

On cross, he testified that he was sitting in the back of the room, and could not see the monitor.

Transcript

Detective Lounsbury is the Norwich Police Department’s computer crimes officer, and was the person responsible for obtaining evidence off of the computer in questions. An 18 year veteran, he has spent the last seven years investigating computer crimes.

Since being seized back in 2004, the computer had been sitting in NPD’s evidence room, and the only thing that had been done prior to being examined was having the floppy drive being replaced due to it being faulty, and the hard drive was duplicated so the defense could have a copy of it.

There was a bit of testimony that bothered me though. It appears that Det. Lounsbury only told Computer Cop Pro, the software that he used to conduct his investigation, to only look for things that are used on web pages.

Also, I instructed it to search for certain types of words, and again, in the internet there is not your words as we know them there, it’s HTML, which is a language. HTML, rich text format, TXT’s, and again, I told it to search specifically for them, and then there were specific words that are utilized that give you the most information with that group of words looking for pornographic-type stuff.

What’s the problem with this? It just shows that pornography had been accessed, something we already knew. What he never told was if the pornography had been accessed on purpose, or in a barrage of popups.

According to Faith and the City, Computer Cop Pro is designed for routine monitoring, and is unable to definitively tell between when a user clicks on a link, or the effects of malware (or even a popup for that fact). It goes on to further say that Det. Lounsbury has very little formal training; he has completed a two week FBI computer security seminar and is a certified Computer Cop Pro user. Unfortunately, to be certified only requires an hour of training (that can be done over the phone, nonetheless) and a test.

Over at AlterNet, Lounsbury said in an interview that

he is satisfied that Amero intentionally viewed porn in class because the logs show that her computer accessed various inappropriate sites while she was sitting at the computer.
“I take that at face value,” Lounsbury told Alternet. “It’s evidence. It speaks for itself. The pop-up defense is a Twinkie defense.”
Lounsbury said that Amero must have navigated to pornographic sites in order to have infected her computer with obscene popups. “You’ve got to get that ball rolling,” he said.

Again, we already knew that the computer had accessed inappropriate sites, what we don’t know is how. And yes, for popups to happen, the ball does need to get rolling. How it gets rolling can take several forms. A serial key/crack site can infect the computer, or it could have been a dating site. It could have been due to an advertisement viewed on an innocent page, or it could have been from an infinite number of other things, we just don’t know. I’ll take it at face value that they had been accessed. But I wouldn’t call it evidence to help the state, not until I knew, with 100% uncertainty, how they had been accessed. And that is where Detective Lounsbury went wrong.

Transcript