At the pretrial hearing, the judge warned the prosecutor that
they'd need "a lot more evidence than this" to convict. However the
judge allowed the case to be referred to a Summit County grand
jury, though there was no proof the sysop had actually
"disseminated", or even intended to disseminate any adult material
"recklessly, with knowledge of its character or content", as the
statute requires. Indeed, the sysop had a long history of
*removing* such content from the non-adult area whenever he became
aware of it. This came out at the hearing.
The prosecution then went on a fishing expedition. According to the
Cleveland Plain Dealer (7/21/92)
"[Police chief] Stahl said computer experts with the Ohio
Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation are reviewing
the hundreds of computer files seized from Lehrer's home. Stahl
said it's possible that some of the games and movies are being
accessed in violation of copyright laws."
Obviously the police believe they have carte blanche to search
unrelated personal files, simply by lumping all the floppies and
files in with the computer as a "criminal tool." That raises
Constitutional issues of whether the search and seizure was legal.
That's a precedent which, if not challenged, has far-reaching
implications for *every* computer owner.
