This photograph was allegedly found on a computer disc in Nickel’s possession. But because the image had been ‘deleted,’ it was not and could not have been found by simply inserting the disc into a disc drive. Special software was required to ‘recover’ it.
Investigator Ronald Bates testified that when going through the (deleted) contents of that disc, he “recognized” the persons depicted in that photo as Nickel and “A.” Subsequent to this purported recognition, Bates showed the photo to “A,” who then confirmed Bates’s preconception.
“A” only alleged that oral sex occurred after he was shown this photo; he said nothing about this at his initial interview, some ten days earlier.
“A” claimed that this photograph had been taken in Nickel’s bedroom. But a comparison of it with police-taken photographs of Nickel’s actual bedroom shows beyond any doubt that this is not true.
“A”’s description of how this photo was actually taken also lacked credibility:
(Q) “Okay. How did that picture get taken?
(A) He took the flash off and set it, when I -- I was taking a nap.”
If “A” were taking a nap, how could he have known that Nickel “took the flash off and set it?” The boy depicted in the photo has his eyes wide open; his head is turned almost 90 degrees to the left, his eyes are focused directly at the camera, and his back is arched sharply, with the lower part of his body dangling over the foot of the bed. All of this is inconsistent with someone either taking a nap, or just having woken up from one. (That camera has a 10-second timer.) Moreover, indoor pictures taken without a flash tend not to come out at all, which was clearly not the case with this picture.