An Internet technology expert from Arizona testified yesterday for former school principal Thomas Weindl, who is on trial in federal court for allegedly accessing child pornography websites using a Public School System-issued laptop.
Tami L. Loehrs, president of a computer forensics company in Tucson, Arizona, explained, among other things, how the Internet works and the significance of the E-blaster reports that allegedly alerted authorities to Weindl's online activity.
Loehrs said she could not conduct a forensic analysis of the prosecution's screen shots of websites as there was no computer. Without the computer, she said she simply reviewed the screen shots.
The prosecution alleged that the computer that Weindl used to access child pornographic websites could not be found after the defendant threw it in the jungle.
Defense counsel David Banes showed in court the government's exhibits of pornographic images of females, including those who looked like minors, during Loehrs' testimony.
Loehrs said it is not fair and accurate to say that those images were the same that Weindl viewed or visited in several websites, as the government alleged. She said Internet images change every second or are constantly changing.
Loehrs said the content of the sites may change at any time so any screen shots of such websites even a day later from when the E-blaster reports were generated may have different content than when the sites were originally accessed.
E-blaster is a computer and Internet monitoring software program.
Loehrs said the type of computer used to download the images from the websites is also a factor to see different images because of download speed.
When Saipan Tribune left the courtroom yesterday afternoon, Loehrs was still on the witness stand. She is expected to continue her testimony today, Wednesday.
The prosecution alleged that as indicated in the E-blaster reports, Weindl searched for and accessed almost 200 websites containing images of child pornography.
The prosecution said that several of the searches conducted and websites accessed specifically reference “eleven year old girl” and “twelve year old” engaging in sexual conduct.
Weindl's daughter, Capt. Amanda Weindl of the U.S. Air Force, also briefly testified yesterday by video telephonic conference about the defendant's good character.
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