CHAT ROOM JUST FANTASY

The defense for fallen Infoseek executive Peter Naughton have a rather unique strategy for defending him against charges that he solicited sex with a minor on the Internet - the San Jose Mercury News says they'll make a case of the fantasy-filled online world colliding with the law enforcement world which doesn't understand it, thus entrapping an unwitting suspect like the former Internet wunderkind.

The collision itself happened Sept. 16, when Naughton went to the Santa Monica pier to meet a woman he believed posed in an online chat room as a 13-year-old girl. The FBI says he was looking for sex with a minor; Naughton's attorneys say he never thought she was actually underage.

The defense appeared in Federal district court Monday. "This is the Internet," said one of the attorneys, Donald Marks. "It's a virtual world of fantasy." But reality indicates Naughton is looking at three felony counts and up to 35 years in prison if convicted. He appeared on the stand briefly Monday and answered routine questions about his professional background, the Mercury News says.

His defense says Naughton has no intention of settling the case but every intention of putting up a strong defense. He was expected to argue entrapment, but the Mercury News says the defense revealed a broad strategy pointing to "peculiarities" of the Internet and its technology to "legitimize what may seem to be criminal behavior".

Naughton's trial was to begin Tuesday. On Monday, the defense presented six motions to delay, dismiss the charges, or withdraw some of the collected evidence, the Mercury News says. Federal district judge Edward Rafeedie was expected to rule on those motions Tuesday, but he agreed to delay the trial to Dec. 7 so the defense could analyze Naughton's computer hard drive from his Infoseek offices, the paper says.

The defense insists Naughton had no intention of meeting and having sex with an underage girl. The fallen Infoseek executive faces charges of using the Internet to arrange underage sex and traveling across state lines for the purpose. (Naughton lives in Seattle.) His attorneys argue that "anyone posing as a 13-year-old online would really be engaging in their own fantasy and would in actuality be an adult," the Mercury News says, "especially because many chat rooms have postings saying that only adults can participate."

And the defense may yet produce some witnesses to testify to adults posing as minors in online chat rooms, especially sex-related chat rooms, the paper says, adding that legal experts believe the government has a difficult task in demonstrating Naughton's intent because the chat room world itself is a largely uncharted legal territory.

"There's a kind of suspended disbelief you enter into in these rooms," says San Francisco free-lance writer Laura Victoria to the Mercury News. "It's like everyone is suddenly willing to buy the Brooklyn Bridge once they enter a chat room. It's like you split into two; part of your brain knows you're being sold a Brooklyn Bridge. But another part of you really wants to believe it and you'll do anything -- including contacting the other person or sending them your phone number and address and even a photo -- to live out the fantasy.''

On the other hand, a federal public defender in San Francisco, Barry Portman, tells the paper the defense would have a hard time arguing Naughton came to Santa Monica just to observe whether he'd find an adult or an "18-year-old Lolita…(t)he supposition is that you take trips like that in hopes of the latter rather than the former."

Another wrinkle in the case is the scenario around Naughton's arrest. The sheriff's deputy posing as the 13-year-old girl reportedly stayed in character even as Naughton was arrested. Amber Braaten testified Monday she did that so Naughton wouldn't think she was an adult, even saying at one point that her mom was going to kill her.

"The game plan was to stay in character," testified Braaten, described by the Mercury News as a petite blonde. Marks called the tactic psychological coercion which caused Naughton to panic, sign a form waiving his Miranda rights, and give consent to search his laptop computer and his car. Investigators reportedly found over 400 pornographic images on his laptop, but nine images of children underage were also found, the paper says.

The prosecution argues Naughton is an educated and successful man who knew what he was doing when he waived his rights and let investigators search his possessions, even checking each line of the form with his initials, the Mercury News says.