Another time-honored tradition sacrificed to the PC -gods

Okay, maybe I exaggerate "time-honored tradition" a little bit, but when we're prosecuting sixteen-year-old kids on morals charges for showing a Playboy to a buddy, I think it's a pretty clear sign that we have lost all trace of sense. But that's not the really disturbing part of this story. This kid faced 90 years in prison for having nine images of child porn on his computer. However...

Exculpatory forensics (on the computer) revealed that the nine images were probably downloaded without his knowledge onto his hard drive by a virus. Viruses with this capability are alarmingly common and can invisibly infect an operating system when someone clicks on an email attachment or the ‘wrong’ (not necessarily adult) website.

Last year, during the height of the Mocbot worm, an estimated 265,000 computers were infected daily.

Matt’s attorney vigorously sought to have forensic analysis performed on the computer, which was in possession of the police. With equal vigor, the District Attorney’s office (called the County Attorney’s office in Arizona) blocked access even though the defense had a legal right to examine evidence.

Court records reveal repeated requests for such disclosure.

Forensic analysis of computer files is akin to ballistic testing of a gun or DNA analysis of semen from a rape sample. If a defendant is guilty, then the forensics will bolster or prove the charges. If the defendant is innocent, then the results are essential to establishing a defense.

In a telephone interview, Matt’s father explained, "I don’t argue that they [the police] didn’t have a right to come with a search warrant but I can’t understand not giving someone a right to defend themselves."

Indeed. I bet the parents of the Duke Lacrosse Players are asking themselves the same thing. In that case, the DA, Mike Nifong, withheld DNA evidence that indicated that the woman accusing the three players of rape had DNA of several men on her person and in her underwear, however, NO DNA of the men she was accusing of raping her. This bit of evidence, which would throw the credibility of the accuser into a deep dark hole, was deliberately withheld from the defense.

We all need to be vigilant to these denials of due process and express our outrage, with our words, our blogs, and with our votes. If we allow it to happen to our fellows, we cannot complain when it happens to us.

*UPDATE* -- See this too.