This is unbelievable:
A 28-year-old St. Charles [IL] man will head to a child pornography trial partly because he chose not to keep his own house clean.
Kane County Judge Patricia Piper-Golden agreed to allow evidence picked up by Charles E. Clendenin's housekeeper at his trial. . . .
According to court documents, Clendenin gave a key to his neighbor to clean his house while he was away on a work trip in August 2003. While in the house, the woman started snooping around. She looked through a closed computer case full of unmarked computer disks and took several home with her to peruse.
She found what she thought was child pornography and took it to West Chicago police where she knew people, according to court filings.
After reviewing the disks, West Chicago police called St. Charles police, who initiated a search of Clendenin's apartment without a warrant, according to court documents filed by the defense.[Clendenin's Attorney Larry] Wechter has argued that because the housekeeper had no right to the disks, the police couldn't base an investigation on their contents.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, claimed that because the housekeeper wasn't working for the police she didn't have to follow the same privacy rules of the police, such as needing a warrant to take the disks.
Not that I'm a fan of child porn or those who use it, but it sounds like Mr. Clendenin has good grounds for a civil suit against his housekeeper for conversion and invasion of privacy. Discuss among yourselves. Details here from Chicago's Daily Herald.