The question on the mind of many is, “why won’t they leave her alone?” Thirteen months after Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein sat aside, or to be blunt, tossed out a trumped-up charge of risking injury to a child against Julie Amero, there is still no date for a retrial. Julie is in limbo and, according to Michael Regan, state's attorney for the New London district in Connecticut, her case is not a “high priority.”
Julie Amero is still waiting for her new trial. (IMG:J.Anderson)
On the blog for the Julie Group, there is a message about the trial, or lack thereof, with a note to anyone who wants to write about the delay. It says: “So we would ask bloggers to be extremely restrained in their comments… if you must blog, please follow the sage advice, Don't PO the prosecutor, don't PO the judge.”
It’s hard to remain semi-neutral and speak about this farce of a trial. The only sensible thing that happened during the whole trial was when Judge Strackbein set aside the verdict, stating that the witness presented by the state provided erroneous testimony.
"The jury may have relied, at least in part, on that false information," said Strackbein.
Following the initial ruling, a tearful Amero said: “I had a great team behind me... I feel very confident with the decision today.” However, thirteen months later, she simply cannot feel the same way. What torture it must be for her to deal with this.
In February of 2007, I wrote the following: “Kangaroo Court is the only way to call the railroading of Julie Amero, a substitute teacher in Norwich Connecticut. In January, Julie Amero was convicted of four counts of ‘risking injury to a child’ and will face up to forty years in prison when she is sentenced in March.” I still stand behind that.
The facts in the case as reported in the media vary, but the summation was that at some point during the day, Amero noticed children around a computer in the classroom looking at hair care Web sites. The sites started to display pop-up advertising, which contained pornographic images. Amero left the classroom to seek assistance after several failed attempts to stop the images and keep the children clear of the screen. The vice principal, as well as other staff members, came to the classroom, but did nothing. Later, in an interview with the New York Times, the vice principal explained that the computer did not have adequate protection against Malware and proper filtering software in place. The schools district’s IT manager later confirmed this when he reported that an ordered update was sent to the wrong person.
Amero faced forty years in prison because of the charges stacked against her, namely risking injury to a child. Later, she was found guilty by a jury, but sentencing was delayed because of appeals. Most of the appeals called the evidence misleading and, in some cases, incorrect. One of the arguments was that expert testimony, which would have proven Amero innocent, was blocked by the court. As we all know, the sentence was set aside and a new trial was ordered. However, there still has been no date issued for this new trial.
"Over the last year, I'm told, Amero has been hospitalized for stress and has lost at least one job because her employer didn't like her arrest record. She is on medication. So she waits, declining to speak publicly, for the state to do something." wrote reporter Rick Green of The Courant regarding the case. "I tried to find out what plans the state has for this poor woman, who was charged, arrested and convicted on false information, shoddy police work and an unwillingness by anyone — from Norwich school officials to state prosecutors — to admit that they had made a mistake".
This is when Green tracked down Michael Regan, and was told: “The Amero case is not a high priority for us. We have other cases down here that are much more important.”
So then why leave Julie Amero in limbo? Why not just admit you messed up and drop the case. Let the woman have some peace.
The Courant has some excellent articles on this issue, which can be viewed HERE and HERE.
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