CALGARY – The Crown prosecutor will conclude their final arguments Thursday in the trial of computer security expert Daniel Clayton.
Clayton, 30, was arrested last year as part of a worldwide investigation called ‘Project Sanctuary.’ He is accused of accessing, possessing and distributing child pornography.
Police allege he downloaded thousands of images of child pornography on his computer and participated in 74 sexually explicit web chats on 37 separate days on a peer-to-peer computer program between December 2009 and April 2010.
In previous court appearances, Clayton testified he has receipts and alibis that prove he wasn’t at home on his computer when the crimes were allegedly committed.
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During the defence’s final arguments on Wednesday, Clayton’s lawyer Balfour Der said the accused did not behave like someone trying to conceal criminal activity.
Der says Clayton’s computer was not password-protected and his fiancée and employees had access to it – “actions more consistent with innocence.”
Prosecutor Jenny Rees says there is no way anyone else could have downloaded the pornography.
“The only possible person who could have been doing this, who did this, is the accused.”
Rees says the chats and downloads took only seconds to complete – transactions so brief it’s impossible for Clayton or anyone else to offer an alibi by saying they were with him the precise moment they took place.
Chat transcripts recovered by investigators show one-line and sometimes one-word invitations to trade child pornography, Reese said.
“If you look at all the chats, you will see it’s not a matter of someone sitting at their computer for hours at at time.”
In previous testimony, a computer expert called by the defence said it’s possible someone could have used a virus to hack into Clayton’s computer, download child pornography and exit his system without detection.
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