[sawsalimb]

Regarding the porn found on his comp,here's a hypothetical scenario:

Westerfield has a kid. Westerfield knows damn good and well that the kid surfed some porn,but wants to keep the kid out of this mess to the greatest extent possible. So he just might tell the kid to not admit to going anywhere near that computer-after all,Westerfield is middle aged,intelligent,and-at least to some extent-capable of looking out for himself. The kid is 18,with his life in front of him,and getting smeared in a high profile case like this will screw up the kid's life for a long time. Anyone else have a take on this?

[shezza]

I'd hit the roof if my kids surfed porn (but they're 11, 9 and 7). I'd think a teenaged boy looking at porn would evidence natural curiosity, and I'd bet money MOST 18-year-old boys have seen porn. A dad like Westerfield might just think it was a "guy thing," distasteful to many of us, perhaps, but not worth sending someone to jail over.

I also think that the underage-looking girls (other detective who looked at same material said he didn't see ANY photos that looked illegal) could have been Neal's doings. An 18-year-old might prefer pix of teens rather than the mature, "large-breasted women" his dad liked. (Is it illegal for a teen to look at pix of other teens? The same as it is not illegal for a teen to have sex with another teen, but it IS illegal for an adult to have sex with a teen.)

[small_l_libertarian]

I was thinking along those lines myself, especially since Lawson was able to pretty much prove that at least some of the porn was Neal's, without Neal having to say so himself.

Here's how it worked for me - Lawson says some of the porn is Neal's, Neal says it's not his. I believe in my heart of hearts that Neal lied on the stand - at least the anime/hentai porn is his. He's the anime collector/fan/club member/video renter. So, I have to throw out what Neal said, and accept what Lawson proved.

I think that Feldman made his point clearly without damaging Westerfield's family any more than it already is. Does that make sense?