Like this wont get overturned in a heartbeat

From Yahoo News:

Viewing child pornography online not a crime: New York court ruling
In a controversial decision that is already sparking debate around the country, the New York Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that viewing child pornography online is not a crime.

"The purposeful viewing of child pornography on the internet is now legal in New York," Senior Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick wrote in a majority decision for the court.

The decision came after Marist College professor James D. Kent was sentenced to prison in August 2009 after more than 100 images of child pornography were found on his computer's cache.

More:

"Merely viewing Web images of child pornography does not, absent other proof, constitute either possession or procurement within the meaning of our Penal Law," Ciparick wrote in the decision.

See a copy of the court's full ruling on the child pornography decision.

The court said it must be up to the legislature, not the courts, to determine what the appropriate response should be to those viewing images of child pornography without actually storing them. Currently, New York's legislature has no laws deeming such action criminal.

Nitpicking. Supposed, like any smart computer user, he didn't want to be caught with incriminating files on his drive. What to do? CD-ROM or thumb drive and then watch them offline -- the images are still saved in the cache and bingo, you in fact did download them. They just didn't bother to look for the disk.

The case originated when Kent brought his computer in to be checked for viruses, complaining that it was running slowly. He has subsequently denied downloading the images himself.

Now that is downright stupid -- should have used CCleaner or some other software to clear the cache. Hope he enjoys his years in the Graybar Hotel. I don't imagine the other inmates would be especially outgoing to a convicted kiddie-porn collector...