05/01/2012 03:01BuckeyeTom

He was just assigned a new attorney in early April, so this case should not even be going to trial yet. He resigned his teaching job in January which pretty much says he is guilty because he was on paid leave with a job unless he was found guilty. The judge did offer him bail. Again, this guy just is not going to trial soon. Outcome is NO news by suspension date.

   11/29/2011 14:17Kentoine Johnson

Passenger’s quick action leads to child porn arrest

A fast-acting businessman credited with snaring the Utah professor who is accused of viewing child porn on a flight to Boston told the Herald he was stunned by what he saw on his fellow passenger’s laptop screen.

“I’m a pretty big, tough guy, but I cried when I saw it,” said Kurt Wade, a 6-foot-3-inch father of four. “It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen.”
Grant Smith pleaded not guilty yesterday in East Boston District Court to possession of child pornography. He was held on $75,000 cash bail pending a Dec. 27 hearing, and barred from having unsupervised contact with children under 16 and from using a computer, except for business, should he post bail.

Wade was seated in first class on Delta Flight 270 from Salt Lake City on Saturday when he spotted Smith in the row in front of him viewing disturbing images, according to a police report. The Arizona software company employee alerted a flight attendant, who also saw Smith looking at child porn, said Assistant District Attorney Erik Bennett.

Wade said he took a photo with his cellphone and emailed his son, telling him to call police in Boston. His son relayed questions from police, who asked Wade to point out Smith when the plane landed.

At Logan, troopers asked to see Smith’s laptop, and he consented, saying it had been bought with a research grant through the University of Utah, where he is a professor of engineering, Bennett said.

On it, troopers found dozens of images of children as young as 5 in a state of nudity or engaged in sex acts with men, he said. At least one is crying while performing a sex act.

When asked if there were any illegal images on his computer, Smith, a divorced father of an 8- and a 10-year-old, debated the definition of child pornography and told troopers he had traded pornographic images of “teens” on the Internet, police said.

The 47-year-old professor told police that after being confronted by the flight attendant, he had erased files from his computer because he was “bored,” Bennett said.

Smith’s lawyer, Patrick Murphy, said Smith has made a “powerful and eloquent denial of the charges.” The University of Utah has placed Grant on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_1129passengers_quick_action_leads_to_child_porn_arrest/srvc=home&position=3