huntsville area minister arrested

Hope of Glory, thanks for the reminder. You are correct, innocent people can be prosecuted.
I believe sometimes the Attorneys tell you to confess, it can give you a lighter sentence.
Just because they have strong evidence against the person, it doesn't means one is guilty. In fact, around here, only about 50% of the crimes you read about around here actually occured (not including traffic violations, those are usually truth). This is my estimation.


Joe

 

My friend who is a forensic computer examiner for the FBI talked to me about the way they do investigations. They don't prosecute unless the evidence is air-tight. They document everything and if there is reasonable doubt, they do not use the evidence. My friend has a 100% conviction rate and has only had to go to court once in the last five years because the suspects decide to confess because the evidence is overwhelming. (And they ensure that the confession matches the evidence they have collected so as not to falsely prosecute. Prison is not a nice place for pedophiles or those who victimize children, and the FBI personnel have to live with the consequences of their investigations.)

Often local police use the assistance of the FBI, or their own examiners who are trained in the FBI programs. I seriously doubt that anyone who is prosecuted by the FBI for child pornography is falsely accused.

 

Let me put in my two cents. There are ways to tell: where the file came from (pics are files!), who accessed the file, when it accessed, what was done to it, yada, yada, yada. EVERYTHING done on a computer leaves traces. All it takes is someone with the expertise to find all these traces and know what they mean. If the machine is attached to a network, there are ways a person can find where on the network the machine is attached, from info he pulls off the data stream circulating on the network while he is working from his own machine in his office. (ie, he can find out what a particular machine is being used for without ever leaving his office)

There is very little that can't be found out. It is even possible to recover data from a machine that has had it's hard drive 'wiped'. This is because the data itself is usually not lost, all that is lost is the info that tells the computer where the data is stored.

Oh be careful little fingers what you command your computer to do!

Edited to add: If you are using a computer owned by your employer YOU HAVE NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY. Your employer has every right to inspect every single file on that computer for any or no reason whatsoever and it is perfectly legal for him to do so or to allow law enforcement authority or anyone he does business with that he thinks might need access to look at it.

 

Here's a link to an article regarding a teenage boy who was in the process of being prosecuted for child porn. Most families can't afford to hire their own computer forensic expert.
The boy wasn't prosecuted for child porn but was forced to register as a sex offender. All due to viewing and sharing a few naked images (not child porn) with his teenage friends. Not hardcore stuff either. This kid only did this a few times....

I am very skeptical when hearing about these types of prosecutions.

Poor kid. I feel for their family


http://abcnews.go.com/2020/LegalCenter/story?id=2785054&page=1


Joe

 

There was a fairly high profile case that was overturned in Alabama a while back because they caught the guy with the images, but that was it. I too am skeptical. But, I have LE friends who tell me I should be. Most people who are guilty are too slick to get caught. (BTW, with proper software, you can make someone else's computer "do" things, and you can stack that trail.)

 

Ironically, one area in which a surge of child porn charges is in minor girls taking photos of themselves and sending them via the internet. I also find it ironic that there are places where the age of consent is below 18, but possessing photos of them is illegal.

 

Even this can be found, but you are right it takes specialized skills that not everyone can afford, to find the trail.