Judges taste for kiddy prawns (1st, 4th amends, hacking for pigs)

[Major Variola (ret.)]

Ex-Judge May Testify in O.C. Porn Case
 Testimony by Ronald C. Kline could affect ruling to admit evidence
found on workplace computer.


By Christine Hanley, Times Staff Writer


Former Orange County Judge Ronald C. Kline may be called to the witness
stand to explain why he didn't realize his courthouse computer could be
searched for child pornography  especially since he helped draft the
rules for such searches.

Kline is expected to be asked Monday to explain his role on the Orange
County Superior Court's Technology Committee, which developed the policy
that warned judges and court staff that their computers were not their
property and could be searched.







The hearing could prove pivotal as prosecutors try to salvage a child
pornography case that has all but collapsed since Kline was arrested.
The case has drawn national attention, particularly as Kline waged a
reelection campaign while facing the charges. He later quit the race and
gave up his seat on the bench. Judge Consuelo B. Marshall has already
tossed out evidence  including diary entries about his sexual desires
and more than 1,500 pornographic images of young boys  that support six
of the seven charges. In her decision earlier this summer, she ruled
that Kline's right to privacy was violated by a Canadian man who was
working for police when he hacked into the computers used by Kline at
home and at work.

Prosecutors are appealing that decision, but first Marshall must rule on
whether to suppress the handful of e-mails, pornographic images and
diary entries allegedly found on Kline's courthouse computer. Those
items support a single count of possessing child pornography  the lone
criminal charge facing Kline.

Kline's attorneys argue that the government's attempt to save the
evidence collected on his work computer is misleading. The question of
whether Kline knew about the policy is moot, they say, because his
computer wouldn't have been searched without the information provided by
the Canadian hacker.

"The chambers computer search was the fruit of the primary illegality;
as such, it must be suppressed," said lead defense attorney Paul S.
Meyer.

But prosecutors contend police did not need a search warrant to inspect
Kline's computer. They argue the court's own policy warned judicial
officers and other staffers that their computers were not their property
and could be monitored for questionable activity at any time.

The eight-page policy warns computer users that access to sexually
explicit and other offensive information is strictly prohibited and that
"e-mail, Internet access and personal computers are provided for
business use and not a public forum, and as such does not provide for
First Amendment Freedom of Speech guarantees."

At the same time, it also states that management may be required "based
on a subpoena" to release computer files to law enforcement agencies in
a criminal investigation.

Prosecutors have filed a copy of the policy, as well as declarations
from Richard Droll, the chief technology officer of Orange County
Superior Court since 1993, and Kathleen E. O'Leary, an associate justice
of California's 4th Appellate District.

Droll confirms that Kline was on the Technology Committee and attended
meetings in 1996 when the policy was drafted and later when it was
revised.

O'Leary, who was presiding judge of the Orange County court system when
the policy was imposed, sent a memo to the staff on Oct. 13, 1998, which
was distributed via e-mail and to office mailboxes.

One of her intents, she said, was to remind staffers that "management
retained the right to inspect and examine computers and their contents
if necessary."

But Superior Court Judge John M. Watson, the head of the civil panel who
has been subpoenaed to testify, says he believes that any judge's work
computer is  and should be  protected by the Fourth Amendment,
regarding search and seizure of property.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kline19sep19,1,4891037.story?coll=la-headlines-california