Julie Amero leaves the New London courthouse this morning escorted by her husband, Wes Volle, left, and Todd Fernow, the head of the Legal Clinic at the University of Connecticut Law School.
A New London Superior court judge this morning overturned the conviction of Julie Amero, who was found guilty of exposing Norwich schoolchildren to pornography on a computer, and has granted Amero a new trial.
Judge Hillary Strackbein said the state had conducted further forensic information that the jury had not heard at the trial. The information, according to defense experts, was that the computer had generated pornographic popups and that Amero, a substitute teacher, was not at fault. Amero had been convicted of four counts of risk of injury to a minor and faced up to 40 years in prison.
She has has been the subject of national attention as of result of the conviction, and seemed relieved after Attorney William Dow explained the judge’s ruling.
“I have a great team behind me and I feel very comfortable with the rulings,” she said before getting into a car with her husband and leaving.
“It was a porn trap,” said Chip Neville, a retired computer sciences professor who had petitioned the office of the Chief State’s Attorney to review the verdict.
“We’re all exposed to this. We wander into the wrong site innocently.”
Cheers,
Eric Sites, CTO