• Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    4 months ago

    Settled for $610,000…so no. I feel like, given that minors were involved, the settlement should have been on top of criminal charges.

    • Juniper (she/her) 🫐@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      Usually when you hear about a settlement (and not a plea deal) that means this was a civil case and not a criminal one. A civil case doesn’t weigh in on whether or not criminal charges will be brought.

      If enough people push the Attorney General of that state to pursue charges they still could (Edit: it’s been 14 years and the Statute of Limitations is 5 years for wiretapping which I think is the highest possible charge). But there is a higher standard for evidence in criminal trials. Not to mention the defense’s argument would likely be that schools have the right to wiretap students’ issued laptops, so the AG probably doesn’t want this to go to court and end up enshrining such a right when it currently holds civil liability due to the civil case succeeding.

      • joel_feila@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Well if they recorded and student jerking it then the school made cp and. I doubt theor is a limitation on that.

      • MindTraveller@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        wiretapping which I think is the highest possible charge

        Wouldn’t the highest charge be all that child pornography they intentionally created?

        • RecallMadness@lemmy.nz
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          4 months ago

          Is there any evidence of it? The Wikipedia page says “which may include unclothed or partially clothed photos” but doesn’t necessarily mean there is any.

          • MindTraveller@lemmy.ca
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            4 months ago

            If you run always-on cameras in thousands of teenage bedrooms, you will get child porn.

        • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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          4 months ago

          In our court system, precedent (an existing ruling by a higher court on a similar case) often weighs heavily in future court cases. IIRC the point of this doctrine is fairness and legitimacy by consistency of rulings.

          Its weaknesses, however, include the ability to set a bad precedent. For this reason, our AGs sometimes ignore potential cases if they’re not sure they can win.

          In other words, this case might not have been quite the slam dunk the headline would suggest.