You may recall a case last year involving Julie Amero, a substitute junior high school teacher in Connecticut that was arrested and threatened with a 40 year prison sentence after the computer in her classroom began to display pornographic pop-ups in front of her students. Any one with even the slightest knowledge of computers could tell you that this was completely ridiculous—especially after learning that the computer system in the school was woefully ill-equipped to handle spyware and viruses. Still, officials and the police refused to admit that they had made a mistake and pressed on with their case. Now Amero has been forced to cut a plea deal in order to avoid jail.
If that wasn’t absurd enough, this plea comes despite overwhelming forensic evidence that Amero was not responsible for the pop-ups and that the school district’s IT manager, detectives and prosecutors knowingly misled the court to cover their own asses. In the end, Amero will pay a $100 fine and give up her teaching credentials. Even though she feels vindicated by the ruling, I can’t imagine that it makes up for the 4 years of misery she has endured. One can only hope that she will be able to turn around and sue these morons into oblivion. [Courant via Boing Boing Gadgets]
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