Opinion ID: 78396
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Sarras's Evidence at Second Trial

Text: Sarras testified in his defense. At the time of the second trial, Sarras was 35 years old. He was born and raised in Greece. He was trained in electrical engineering and computer science and had worked in the computer industry since the early 1990s. He built between 140-200 computers, including the ones seized in this case. In 2004, Sarras started his own company, which grossed $1.8 million in 2005. Sarras met E.M.'s mother in late 1999, and they married in August 2000. Sarras's defense was that he was set up and the images of E.M. were planted on his laptop. According to Sarras, marital problems began in late 2003, when he noticed $10,000 missing from his bank account. In August 2004, he bought the Wheatfield residence and began building his Tweed residence. The couple divorced in October 2005 but did not tell E.M. about the divorce until July 2006. Sarras continued to live with E.M.'s mother at his Wheatfield residence until August 2006, when he finished construction on his Tweed residence. Sarras continued to pay the mortgage and bills on his Wheatfield residence until November 2006. In December 2006, Sarras told E.M.'s mother about his new girlfriend, and in April 2007, he told her that he had decided to move to Massachusetts. Sarras and E.M.'s mother had financial dealings and even a joint bank account well into 2007. Sarras paid off the mortgage on the Wheatfield residence in January 2007. On January 31, he transferred the deed to the Wheatfield residence to E.M.'s mother for a $120,000 check, which covered about half of the home's equity. The bank refused to cash the check, saying E.M.'s mother did not have enough money in her individual account. Sarras later admitted that E.M.'s mother did take out a mortgage and deposit $123,470 into their joint bank account even though she also kept her own account. Sarras admitted that he still had a joint account with E.M.'s mother on May 7, 2007, but testified that on May 7, 2007, he learned that $70,000 was missing from that joint account. Sarras later denied talking E.M.'s mother into forgoing an attorney for their divorce in exchange for $70,000. Both E.M. and her mother had keys to Sarras's Tweed residence. Sarras acknowledged that E.M. visited his Tweed residence at least once a week from September 15 to November 15, 2006. E.M. liked to stay at Sarras's Tweed residence on Fridays because it was very near one of her favorite places to spend time with friends. Sarras taught E.M. how to use computers, which she was fascinated with. An open port allowed the exchange of files between Sarras's Tweed and Wheatfield residences. E.M. and her mother primarily used the Sony Cybershot camera. Sarras said he was not interested in taking photos. At some point, Sarras blocked MTV on his main television and imposed dating rules on E.M. As a result, E.M. stopped coming over to Sarras's Tweed residence. His relationship with E.M. was effectively terminated by mid-November 2006. Sarras denied having any physical relationship with E.M. and taking the laptop photos. He did not know they were on his laptop computer and did not delete them or the restore points feature. Sarras testified that his penis is not circumcised, he has a mole on the top side of his penis, and the laptop photos show no mole on the top of the penis. Sarras testified that his mole would have appeared in the laptop photos if in fact the photos were of his penis. On cross-examination, Sarras admitted that, on May 7, 2007, he logged into the online management course described by Officer Zabik and was at his home when he received the controlled phone call from E.M. Sarras acknowledged that the government moved to have a second set of photos taken with Dr. Jablonski present. Sarras denied that he opposed the second photos because they would show that his mole is on the side of his penis and not on the top. When presented with the government's photos (exhibits 77-79), Sarras admitted that his mole did not appear in exhibit 77, the overhead photo showing the top of his penis. He acknowledged that in the side-view picture (exhibit 79), the mole appeared to be on the side of his penis. On redirect, Sarras testified that he objected when Dr. Jablonski twisted his penis before the government photos were taken. Sarras's counsel then called Hemphill, who took the defense photos. Hemphill stated that the men in the room turned their backs so that Sarras could prepar[e] himself for the photos. After Sarras achieved an erection and arranged himself, the men turned around and Hemphill stepped on a chair and photographed Sarras's penis from over Sarras's shoulder. Sarras also called Donald Rehman, Sr., a former law enforcement officer and owner of Rehman Technology Services, Inc., which offers computer forensics services. [15] Rehman examined the media seized from Sarras's home, including the mirror image of the laptop's hard drive and the Sony Cybershot. Rehman found no sign of the laptop photos on the camera's memory card. He believed that the laptop photos first appeared on the laptop on April 19, 2007, and were last accessed on April 30, 2007. Rehman found that LimeWire was installed on February 19, 2007, reinstalled on May 7, 2007, at 4:57 p.m., and then uninstalled later on May 7, 2007, at an undeterminable time. Rehman testified that it was possible to change a computer's date to some time in the past, put items on that computer, change the date to tomorrow, delete the files, and change the computer back to today's date. Rehman stated that the date applet on the laptop was accessed at 3:59 p.m. on May 6, 2007, and the date changed to May 7, 2007, to make it appear that the images had been deleted on May 7. Rehman found no other pornography on Sarras's laptop and no evidence that Sarras had searched the internet for child pornography. Sarras also called Dr. Ferdon. The court allowed Dr. Ferdon to testify about the features of Sarras's penis and the photos in evidence. Although he had not formally studied urology, Dr. Ferdon had examined between 15,000 and 16,000 male genitalia over the six years before Sarras's second trial. Dr. Ferdon examined Sarras's penis in both the erect and non-erect states. Dr. Ferdon explained that dorsal means the top of the penis and lateral means the side. Dr. Ferdon stated that Sarras's mole is in the dorsolateral, meaning towards the top, towards the side but in  between the direct side and the actual top. In terms of a clock, with the top of the penis being 12 o'clock and the bottom 6 o'clock, Dr. Ferdon described the location of the mole from 2 viewpoints. The mole was at 10 o'clock when standing directly in front of and looking back at Sarras's penis. The mole was at 2 o'clock when looking from Sarras's perspective out from Sarras's body. Dr. Ferdon examined the defense photos of Sarras's penis, in which the mole is visible in the overhead pictures, and said that the penis appeared to be in the neutral position, not rotated. Dr. Ferdon also testified that Sarras's penis was uncircumcised. Dr. Ferdon studied the 14 laptop photos showing the penis and testified that, in his medical opinion, 2 of the 14 photos showed a penis that is clearly completely circumcised. As to whether the penis in the other 12 laptop photos was circumcised, Dr. Ferdon testified that: (1) as to 7 photos, he [could] not tell or was uncertain; (2) as to 1 photo, he would say circumcised; (3) as to 3 photos, it appear[ed] to be or apparently was circumcised; and (4) as to 1 photo, he th[ought] uncircumcised. [16] Dr. Ferdon also examined the government photos and testified that the urologist (Dr. Jablonski) appears to be pulling the skin of the base of [Sarras's] penis and in the groin area towards the right, which would have pulled the mole to the bottom of the penis so that it would not be visible from overhead. Sarras's counsel also questioned Dr. Ferdon about penis veins. Dr. Ferdon explained that the dorsal vein is the prominent vein seen subcutaneously just beneath the skin on the top portion of the penis. He also testified that there are other veins in the penis, but the dorsal vein is the most prominent. Dr. Ferdon explained that, when he examined Sarras's erect penis, its veins were in the same position as the veins shown in the defense photos.