Opinion ID: 78396
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Government's Evidence at Second Trial

Text: We now turn to the evidence in the second trial. The government's first witness was E.M., who testified that Sarras married her mother in 2000, when E.M. was seven years old. Sarras was like a father to E.M. After Sarras and E.M.'s mother stopped living together in August 2006, he continued to see E.M. During the fall of 2006, Sarras kept a bedroom for E.M. in his Tweed residence, where E.M. stayed overnight three times a week. At some point, Sarras began talking with E.M. about sex. Later, Sarras lifted up her shirt and licked her left nipple before tucking her into bed. Eventually, Sarras began having sex with E.M. every time she stayed at his Tweed residence unless E.M. made up an excuse that [she] was sick or [she] had a headache. At least once, Sarras had sex with E.M. after school in her mother's bedroom at the Wheatfield residence while E.M.'s mother was at work. E.M. testified that Sarras threatened to take away her home and kill her, her mom, or her dog if she told anyone that Sarras forced her to have sex with him. E.M. eventually confided in a friend. When her friend's father found out in May 2007, E.M. told her mother and then the police. E.M. also explained that in October or November 2006, Sarras used a Sony Cybershot camera to take pictures of E.M. performing sex acts on him. E.M. identified the Sony Cybershot camera seized from Sarras's Tweed residence as the camera Sarras used to take the laptop photos (exhibits 1-41). E.M. identified where each of the 41 laptop photos was taken based on the furniture in the pictures. Exhibits 1-15 were taken in Sarras's bedroom at his Tweed residence. Exhibits 16-25 were taken at E.M.'s mother's bedroom at his Wheatfield residence. Exhibits 26-41 were taken in Sarras's bedroom at his Tweed residence. Fourteen of the 41 exhibits depict an adult male, whose penis is shown but whose face is not, engaged in sex acts with E.M. E.M. identified the male in these 14 pictures as Sarras. E.M. appears nude and alone in the other 27 pictures. E.M. testified that, in exhibits 26-41, she had a red ribbon around her wrist. Her middle school gave students the ribbon to wear during Drug Free Week. E.M. testified that the ribbon was given out in October or November 2006. The school passed the ribbons out on Monday and asked the students to wear them all week if they intended to stay drug free. [11] On cross-examination, Sarras's counsel highlighted the inconsistencies between (1) E.M.'s testimony on direct and (2) her testimony in the first trial and her interview with Officer Ortiz. E.M. previously could remember Sarras taking photos on only one occasion and could not remember exactly when that was. E.M. did not tell Officer Ortiz that a Sony Cybershot camera was used. E.M. did not remember any distinguishing marks or moles in Sarras's genital area and told Officer Ortiz that Sarras did not have any such marks. E.M. created her own MySpace page and used Sarras's Sony Cybershot camera to take pictures for it. Sarras taught her how to use a computer and what the various parts of a computer were. E.M. took a beginning web design class at school. E.M. knew that Sarras had a new girlfriend and was getting ready to leave Florida. E.M. knew the security code to Sarras's Tweed residence. E.M. was unhappy that he blocked MTV at his home. On redirect examination, E.M. testified that she was scared during her sexual encounters with Sarras and had blocked some of it out. E.M. stated that it had been the most traumatic thing that had ever happened to her. Based on this testimony, Sarras's counsel argued that he should be permitted to ask E.M. about her post-abuse sexual relationship with her boyfriend. The district court denied Sarras's request, stating, [Federal Rule of Evidence 412] [12] is pretty clear that this kind of evidence does not come in, whether or not  that's the whole point of it is the victims can be traumatized whether or not they've had other sexual relationships. The government also called Officer Ortiz, who was with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office since 1999, is part of the Crimes against Children Unit, and investigates cases involving sex crimes against children, child abductions, and child abuse. Ortiz testified only that she monitored and recorded the phone call E.M. placed to Sarras. The recording was played for the jury without objection. On cross-examination, Sarras's counsel asked Officer Ortiz about the information she included in and excluded from her search warrant affidavit. On redirect, Ortiz testified that, based on her training and experience as a sex-crimes investigator, it is not unusual for a thirteen-year-old child to forget the exact dates and times of her abuse. On re-cross, Officer Ortiz admitted that, based on her training and experience as a sexual crime and child abuse investigator, it is very common in cases involving child pornography to find other photos of child pornography. She acknowledged that investigators found no other pornographic photos in Sarras's home or on his computers. [13] The government next called Officer Erik Zabik, a forensic investigator for the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. Zabik examined (1) the memory stick and camera card from the Sony Cybershot and (2) Sarras's laptop computer. Zabik found the 41 laptop photos on its hard drive in an encrypted, hidden folder [14] that was deleted at 3:59 p.m. on May 7, 2007. This was ten minutes after the 3:32 p.m.-3:49 p.m. controlled phone call between E.M. and Sarras. Officer Zabik testified that, at various points throughout the day, Windows automatically . . . takes a snapshot of the Windows registry and other files so that a user can restore his computer to a certain date and time in the event of a crash. These restore points are automatically saved in restore point folders on the computer. Zabik explained that, starting at 4:12 p.m. on May 7, 2007, all of the approximately 80 restore point folders on Sarras's laptop, containing restore points going back several months, were manually deleted. Officer Zabik testified that neither remote assistance [n]or remote desktop had been accessed [on Sarras's laptop] in quite sometime [sic] and that the exchangeable image file data embedded into the graphic files containing the images of E.M. established that all of the pictures were taken with the same make and model Sony Cybershot camera that was seized from Sarras's home. By using software that analyzes the picture files and determines the exact time they were taken, Officer Zabik was able to determine exactly when the laptops photos were taken. The images of E.M. in exhibits 1-15 (in Sarras's bedroom at his Tweed residence) were taken on October 16, 2006, between 10:31 p.m. and 11:52 p.m. The images in exhibits 16-25 (in E.M.'s mother's bedroom at the Wheatfield residence) were taken on October 17, 2006, between 5:48 p.m. and 6:53 p.m. The images in exhibits 26-41 (in Sarras's bedroom at his Tweed residence) were taken on October 23-24, 2006, between 11:47 p.m. and 12:18 a.m. Officer Zabik also detailed the use of Sarras's laptop computer throughout May 7, 2007, the day of the controlled call from 3:32 p.m.-3:49 p.m. According to Zabik, the forensic examination showed that between 1:15 p.m.-2:45 p.m. Sarras's laptop began downloading adult pornography through LimeWire. The laptop also accessed an online management course and Greek sports websites throughout most of May 7. At 3:21 p.m., the laptop was used to access Sarras's email account. At 3:51 p.m., two minutes after the controlled phone call, Sarras's laptop was used to access LimeWire. LimeWire was uninstalled at 3:55 p.m. At 3:58 p.m., Sarras's laptop was used to access the hidden folder containing the laptop photos. The folder was deleted at 3:59 p.m. Between 4:12 and 4:15 p.m., the adult pornography downloaded earlier in the day and the computer's restore points were deleted. On cross-examination, Officer Zabik testified that the date and time applet on Sarras's laptop (that Zabik used to construct his May 7 chronology) was accessed on May 6, 2007, at 3:59 p.m. He could not say if the computer's date and time were altered on May 6. Zabik admitted that someone could access the program and change the date and time to whatever the person wanted, thus causing a false date and time to be placed on a file. There was no way to tell if the dates were changed in this case. Officer Zabik admitted that, out of approximately 115,000 files and folders on Sarras's laptop, and millions of files on Sarras's other computers, the folder containing the laptop photos was the only encrypted folder and the only child pornography that Zabik found. The laptop photos did not appear on the laptop until April 19, 2007, and Zabik did not know where they had been stored before that date. Zabik did not find that Sarras had conducted any internet searches for child pornography. This was Zabik's only child pornography case that did not involve more than one set of images or more than one child. Officer Zabik also testified that Sarras's laptop operated on a wireless network, and he agreed that someone could access a computer that is on a wireless system and had an open port. Zabik admitted that (1) he never tested E.M.'s computer, (2) he did not determine if there was an interconnection between E.M.'s computer and Sarras's laptop, and (3) anyone could turn on Sarras's computer because it was not password protected. Zabik also found pictures on the seized computer media that showed that E.M. was in possession of a Sony Cybershot camera prior to the time frame of the charged images. Finally, Zabik testified that, if someone wanted to make the laptop photos unrecoverable, even from the police forensic software, the person could have done that.