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Julie Amero granted motion for new trial, off the hook
Great day in the morning. Julie Amero -- formerly convicted pop-up porn teacher -- won a motion for a new trial under the order of Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein. State's Attorney Mark Smith -- who was responsible for Amero's previous conviction -- says the state will likely hold no position on Amero's retrial, making it very unlikely that she will stand trial again. The judge ruled that in Amero's previous trial Norwich police computer "expert" Mark Loundsbury offered "erroneous" testimony -- something tech publications have been screaming from the tops of hills for months -- and said that the jury may have relied in part on that error to convict Amero.
William F. Dow, an attorney who came late to the Amero trial and worked pro-bono after hearing about the miscarriage of justice that was her previous trial, filed a motion for a new hearing this morning. In his corner was a new forensic report on the PC in question which was performed after the guilty verdict had been handed down.
Judge Strackbein also admonished bloggers -- like us! -- who've been vigilant in declaring Amero's innocence stating that blogs and blog writers had tried to "improperly influence" the court. Funny, when you think about it. What's more improper than failing to perform a real forensic analisys on the machine prior to trial, depending on the testimony of an "expert" who couldn't tie his shoes and denying the defendant the right to defend herself by suppressing her evidence? We'll agree to disagree with Strackbein on this point but, we're ecstatic that Julie has every chance of walking away from this a free woman. Justice 1, Norwich School System 0
Comments
7
Subscribe to commentsRyan CarterJun 6th 2007 12:31PM
Let's hope Amero gets a book deal out of this too, she deserves something after all this. It is about time more people sat up and took notice of the tour de force that blogs are as well. Good for you Julie!
richard.gaileyJun 6th 2007 1:13PM
Thank God for that. I think this whole story is a bit of a farce, and to be honest quite bewildering.
I still find it quite baffling how they could have arisen to their verdict. Are there any court transcripts out there?
tppJun 6th 2007 1:18PM
Let's see what the clueless hacks at Norwich Bulletin manage to write about this.
Probably something about how justice was prevented by vigilantes.
Victor Agreda, Jr.Jun 6th 2007 1:38PM
Richard, I haven't seen any, but would love to.
Judge Strackbein, sorry to point out your incompetence, but that's our job. And we love what we do. My hope is you'll be busted down to traffic court where you can get back to bullying the average American again.
Grant RobertsonJun 6th 2007 1:41PM
The Bulletin says, "Strackbein acknowledged further forensic investigation into Amero’s computer at the state police crime laboratory and by the defense team had turned up the possibility of “erroneous” facts presented to jurors by the prosecution’s expert computer witness."
The "possibility" of erroneous facts.. When actually, the prosecutor admitted freely that information was presented in error to the jury. It's amazing to me that, through this whole thing, the Norwich Bulletin hasn't had the guts to just admit that they've been wrong. We'd have stopped picking on them a long time ago if they'd have just admitted that they made a mistake. Instead they've continued to crucify Juile at every opportunity.
Jordan RunningJun 6th 2007 1:47PM
Wow. Sanity prevails. I am amazed and relieved.
Gardiner WestboundJun 6th 2007 6:00PM
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"Judge Strackbein also admonished bloggers -- like us! -- who've been vigilant in declaring Amero's innocence stating that blogs and blog writers had tried to "improperly influence" the court."
What is the weather like on Strackbein's planet? If not for outsiders Ms. Amero would have been victimized by an imperious judiciary.
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