CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga.,None — A Clayton County school board member has won the fight over pornographic downloads found on her district-issued laptop. The board failed to get enough votes to find she violated its ethics code at a hearing Monday night.
District 7 member Trinia Garrett was at the center of an ethics investigation into the allegations. She was accused of downloading 400 pornographic images from more than 60 websites.
A forensic computer expert said he found the sexually explicit images, along with rap music, on Garrett's computer while investigating district equipment last year, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. He said the data could not have been downloaded accidentally.
Even though the board voted 5 to 2 that Garrett had violated the ethics code, policy requires a two-thirds vote (six) of the whole board of nine for the action to have carried, school district attorney Glenn Brock said. Garrett and board member Michael King opted out of the vote.
But Garrett has vehemently denied the charges. She became confrontational with other board members when the allegations came to light in December, demanding that someone outside the district re-examine her computer.
Garrett's attorney asked whether someone else could have used Garrett's computer if she had logged on and left it unattended. The forensic expert said that was possible.
WSBTV
