If records are kept , they will use it

Tori Stafford's dad disappointed at what jury didn't hear

The father of Victoria (Tori) Stafford is disappointed the jury hearing the case against the man charged with killing his eight-year-old daughter did not get the whole story about the accused.

Jury members who are now in deliberations over the fate of Michael Rafferty, 31, did not hear that the man who spent a lot of time surfing online dating sites was also searching for something much darker on the internet — child pornography. Some of the search terms he typed into his laptop computer were "underage rape," "real underage rape pictures" and "nude preteen."

Rodney Stafford said outside the London, Ont., courthouse on Friday that he disagrees with the judge's decision to exclude evidence that showed Rafferty's laptop computer was used to search and view child porn, troubling details that only came out after the jury was sequestered Thursday night.

On the one hand , applaud the police for catching this "sick puppy".

On the other hand... "Some of the search terms he typed into his lap top computer ..." Thats being tracked ? Yes. Tracked and apparently the prosecution tried to use it against him too. It's obvious why the evidence was dismissed (google at least tries to guess what you're typing and fills it in for you ... one wrong stroke of the enter key could take you anywhere) but still , it is fascnating that if you search for anything on the internet , records are kept. Indefinately , it seems. And the cops will supena those records if they think there's even a tiny chance they can be used against you.

As an aspiring writer, I'm pretty sure that anyone who goes through my searchs will be absolutely convinced I'm trying to build a nuclear bomb :) , so yes. I think there are serious problems with this sort of thing, and the judge acted correctly to toss the searches out.

Much as I feel for the parents of Victoria Stafford, you really want to throw the right guy in jail. Throwing some patsy framed because he did a few searches may make you feel good , but it doesn't really persuade the perpetrator to cease operations. In fact it generally emboldens him to try again.