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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

NY man cleared of child pornography charges

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posted by Bob at Tuesday, May 15, 2007

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N.Y. man cleared of child-pornography charge
The computer consultant's duties included searching the Internet for pirated adult films. He spent more than a year in jail awaiting trial.

By Dan Browning, Star Tribune

Last update: May 15, 2007 – 6:25 AM

A federal jury in Minneapolis deliberated only 2½ hours Monday before acquitting a New York computer consultant of bringing child pornography into the United States on his way back from a business trip to Japan and the Philippines.
Nobumochi Furukawa, 36, bowed his head respectfully toward the jury as U.S. District Judge David Doty read the not guilty verdict. He has been jailed since April 20, 2006, when customs officials working at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport discovered child pornography on his computer equipment.

Tears welled in the eyes of Furukawa's wife and mother, who sat through the five-day trial.

His lawyer, Daniel Gerdts, of Minneapolis, said afterward that the prosecution of child-pornography cases has become "a modern-day witch hunt" that resulted in the improper indictment of his client by an overzealous U.S. attorney.

In his closing arguments, Gerdts contended that politics had infected the case.

Because child pornography is universally reviled, Gerdts said, it's easy to make it a public priority, "particularly when you're unable to manage the office."

Judge sustains objection

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Jones sprang to her feet and objected at the reference to her embattled boss, U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose, who is grappling with an upheaval among several career prosecutors. Doty told the jury to disregard Gerdts' remarks.

Outside of court, Gerdts noted that Paulose has declared that the prosecution of child-pornography cases is a top priority of her office. In the case of Furukawa, he said, the government "failed to exercise proper prosecutorial discretion."Mr. Furukawa spent more than a year in jail," Gerdts said, "and he's not guilty."

Paulose could not be reached for comment.

Jason Coombs, a computer expert based in New Zealand, said in a telephone interview that he reviewed the evidence in the case and concluded it never should have been brought. "In my opinion he was completely innocent of all of the charges against him," he said of Furukawa.

Porn search was part of job

Furukawa, who has dual U.S. and Japanese citizenship, testified that he was a self-employed computer consultant with offices in New York, Japan and the Philippines. Among his clients was one of Japan's leading producers of adult videos. Furukawa said the firm hired him to help set up Web pages to market adult videos around the world and to "scour the Internet" for pirated copies.

Furukawa has maintained since his arrest that he didn't know the child pornography was on his computer, but acknowledged telling government agents that any computer connected to the Internet could have child pornography on it. He also said he had downloaded it inadvertently about 20 times in the past while hunting for pirated videos, but that he tried to delete the files when he discovered them.

Kevin Lang, a computer forensics examiner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified that Furukawa had to have known he was downloading the porn, which includes telltale file names. He said the programs that Furukawa used to find files could not be automated.

But Furukawa testified that he had written a simple macro, or computer program, to automate the downloads. Lang acknowledged under cross-examination that it might be possible to do so.

Coombs, the New Zealand expert, said that he had examined the macro code and concluded that it would have worked as Furukawa described.

Sarah Snider, the forewoman of the jury, underscored the fact that Jones said during her closing arguments that Furukawa had sought out child pornography. Jones noted that agents recovered more than 4,600 images and 172 video files containing child pornography and said he had to have known it was on his equipment.

Computer logs help defense

But Snider said jurors examined the computer logs and discovered that Furukawa had downloaded thousands of files. The child porn files were "few and far between," she said. "It's our belief he wasn't looking for it."

DeAnn Roy, another juror, said no one disputed that the images were illegal child porn. "We just didn't see proof that he knew, or that he willingly had that on his computer."

Jones declined to comment after the verdict.

Furukawa embraced Gerdts after his release from custody. But Gerdts warned Furukawa that trouble might lie ahead. There's been some discussion of bringing charges against him in New York, Gerdts said.


Dan Browning • 612-673-4493 • dbrowning@startribune.com

8:15 AM  

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