[agrandis]

So if what you are telling me is accurate, Westerfield may not have even been guilty of collecting kiddie porn? One report I saw made it sound like he had tons of it stored on CDs with labels and all. If he indeed collected kiddie porn (as opposed to having some accidental crap in the trash he collected), it could be used to prove a mindset, but otherwise the porn is of little importance to the question of who murdered the child.

BTW, in order to even discuss this, you have to block out from your mind that this was an innocent young child that was hurt and murdered. There is nothing more infuriating in the world if you let yourself think about it too much. It seems weird that our whole country is discussing Calliphorid larvae and lawyers and locks and motorhomes, when that is what is at the bottom of it all. Abortion is the same way. We talk about laws and restrictions and rallies, and can scarcely allow ourselves to think about what it's all about.

[cynwoody]

One report I saw made it sound like he had tons of it stored on CDs with labels

My recollection is that it was shown he had a large — and organized — collection of porn (around 8000 images), but that only a few dozen of the images fell into the questionable category. The anime played for the jury would not qualify because cartoons can't be kiddie porn. The Supreme Court recently found that you have to have a real kid to make kiddie porn. Synthesized images don't count, even if they are vile and disgusting and appear to be of kids.