Comments in the newest blog put forward supposedly by Det Mark Lounsbury, Norwich PD, include items that he says were in the firewall log.  But a commenter called him out (rudely, mind you) about inconsistencies in the firewall log entries so he changed them!!

Well part of the magic of the internet, is it's difficult to tell when changes have been made to a blog posting, unless the author uses good form to point it out.  I've got a historical copy of the site and used a handy tool to let you see the differences in the firewall logs from January 30th post (L), to the Feb 2nd (R) revision:

The first five minutes of a longer interview.  If I can find more audio, I'll post it in an update below.   This is Julie in her own words giving a narrative of what the initial days were like in 2004 when this whole case began.

Click on the picture above for a video or go here:

Teacher: Wrong Computer Click Ruined My Life
by Imaeyen Ibanga
Jan 27, 2009

But for 18 months prosecutors pondered whether they should retry the former educator. They dropped the felony charges, but in November 2008 Amero pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. She can never work in a classroom again.

She said the plea bargain was the result of not wanting to spend more time in a courtroom because the entire ordeal had taken a serious toll on her health.

"They got a pound of flesh," said Amero, who remains unemployed and says she's unable to get work thanks to the ordeal. "The doctors all agreed that I would not make it through another trial."

Amero said the stress of the trial caused a miscarriage and prompted breathing troubles.

Read the full article here:

Note: It's apparent that at least one of the ages cited for Julie Amero is incorrect in the written story.   I would correct those, but I know better then to state a woman's age, so just wanted to make you aware of the discrepancies.  --Mike

Word is that the Julie Amero story will be covered on the Tuesday morning, January 27th edition of Good Morning America on ABC.  Grab a bagel and some coffee and settle in to see how they do.   Set the TIVO! program the DVR.   And here's a hint as to what you may see.   The Norwich area police never fail to disappoint.

TheRegister.UK November 24th, 2008

Local prosecutors refused to admit mistakes had been made in the case despite a wealth of evidence from computer security experts, even after the trial judge ordered a retrial. This bodes ill if something similar ever crops up again.

Wired.com November 24th, 2008

But if a soon-to-be released forensic report (.pdf) about her hard drive is accurate, Amero's guilty plea is hardly justice -- since the school computer had adware, the anti-virus software on the computer had been discontinued, and the technical testimony at her trial was amateurish and flawed.

Huffington Post November 24th, 2008

The truth is in fact, he ruined a woman's life over a computer virus.  Prosecutor Michael Regan literally took Julie Amero's career from her, took her health, took her right to justice.  All presumably to make an example of her, and a name for himself.

Details are slim right now, but just received word that charges have been reduced to disorderly conduct with a $100.00 fine.

[Update] From Rick Green over at the Hartford Courant, Despite our desire to see her even fight the disorderly conduct charge, Amero and her attorneys agreed to a guilty plea on the lesser charge and to surrender her teachers license.

The State of Connecticut continued it's despicable behavior to the very end.

and I've removed this little ditty that was on the toolbar to the right, on this the 534th day since her first conviction was tossed out.

Days Held Hostage:
534 days since June 6 2007, and Julie Amero is still held hostage by the State of Connecticut

Dawn and I were married days after and recently celebrated our first anniversary.  America has selected Democratic and Republican nominees after what many feel has been the longest primary ever.  Floods across the MidWest and a record year for tornadoes have revealed tales of terror and highlighted acts of tremendous courage.  The widely discussed "Surge" in Iraq has come and now begins to ebb.

But for Julie Amero Volle and her husband, Wes, little has changed.  380 days after her conviction was overturned, the State of Connecticut has still failed to drop the erroneous charges against her.   Julie still lives under the cloud of looming prosecution, and continues to suffer health and employment problems due to the stress.

Marking the anniversary of the Superior Court Decision, Rick Green writes:

There is no indication that state investigators are taking another look at the now discredited work done by the Norwich Police Department, which concluded that Amero was responsible for the storm of porn pop-up messages that took over her classroom computer on Oct. 19, 2004.

And the state's attorney can't be bothered

Michael Regan, state's attorney for the New London district, reminded me that there is a backlog of serious criminal cases in southeastern Connecticut. The Amero case "is not a high priority for us. We have other cases down here that are much more important."

And while Connecticut continues to suffer worldwide ridicule for their performance in this case, Julie Amero still lives with this tremendous weigh upon her shoulders.

I'll let the editorial in today's Hartford Courant close this article

By burying her case in paperwork, delaying decisions and denying her justice, prosecutors are treating Ms. Amero almost as if she were a Guantanamo detainee. It's past time to end the agony.

Julie Amero has been granted a motion for a new trial!!

Julie Amero's attorney filed a motion for a new trial, yesterday, to be ruled on at her sentencing hearing this morning at 10am EST.  States Attorney, Dave Smith, did not contest the motion for the new trial.   It's my personal belief that there never will be a new trial, and we just need some kind of assurance from the State of Connecticut that charges will not be pursued.

This means that Julie's "Guilty Verdict" has been vacated.   When the world learned of her story, she had already been found guilty, and all that was left to do was sentencing.   Good or bad, the decision of a jury is very well protected in US Courts, and there was little to do in the way of offering new evidence to prove her innocence.   However, the Amero Defense Team was able to find enough faults in the conduct of the trial and testimony given, to prevent the sentencing from taking place.

Julie's story demonstrates the scariness of the internet.  The pop-up porn storm that began the story.   The fear and lack of knowledge that resulted in charges being filed.   And some very real complacency in our court system that resulted in her being found guilty in a sloppy, sloppy trial.

However, Julie's story also demonstrates the power of the internet.   When the story broke, folks all over the world were alarmed to hear of it and a support structure began to form.  Composed of data forensics experts, computer folks, teachers, professors, lawyers, journalists and local folks, hundreds of hours were donated to performing forensics works, dozens of press interviews and radio appearances were given, and money was raised to aid in Julie's defense.

I'm going to write more about this. (at blog.state-v-amero.com) Will have more links on the web, but here's three quick stories.  Check out www.TheDay.com for a great picture and the Courant for a link to video footage filmed outside the court house.

http://www.theday.com
http://www.courant.com  (has link to Fox 61 video as well)
http://www.norwichbulletin.com

Another delay occurred in the sentencing phase of the State v Julie Amero trial.  The latest less than 24 hours before the May 18th hearing.   I'm late in posting this notice (sorry), but the Groundhog Day aspect of this can lead to complacency.

Rick Green over at the Hartford Courant has lots to say about this:

"The state has not completed a full examination of all the issues which may affect its position at the sentence hearing."

Translation: We were wrong. We are trying to figure a CYA way out of this mess.

They still are. Amero's sentencing Thursday was delayed again until June 6 - the fourth postponement since March. She's still convicted of four counts of risk of injury to a minor, facing a potential 40 years in jail.

Stay Tuned....

Bob Johnston at e-computer-security  reports that upon calling the Norwich Supreme Court Clerk's office, he was notified that:

"The Julie Amero sentencing hearing has been rescheduled for May 18th in Norwich Superior Court."

Nuthin' yet from the media.  There may not have been an official announcement yet, but that's the word.