Child porn case sheds light on search and seizure laws

From the Utica Observer-Dispatch on-line: "About a week after Stephen DeProspero was arrested in May 2009 for possessing child pornography on his computer, the Rome man’s state employers alerted prosecutors that he might have victimized some of the young disabled children he once worked with, according to court documents.

But for nearly nine months after DeProspero’s initial arrest, evidence that he allegedly had recorded himself sexually abusing a severely autistic 9-year-old boy went unnoticed on one of his seized digital cameras, documents show.

The camera was never thoroughly examined by the New York State Police computer crimes lab, documents stated.

Only after DeProspero, 36, had pleaded guilty to a lesser pornography possession charge, had been sentenced to six months in jail and had asked for his property back, did police do one last-minute search of his cameras and computer, attorneys said.

Now, because of that search, DeProspero faces a new series of felony child pornography and sex abuse charges in both Oneida County and federal courts.

This has led to defense and prosecution attorneys locking horns over whether police were right to search his property after his conviction ...

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