Slashdot Mirror
H-P's Dunn Enters No Plea, Charges Dismissed
GogglesPisano writes "CNN earlier reported that former HP chairwoman Patricia Dunn would plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent wire communications stemming from her involvement in last year's corporate eavesdropping scandal. The story was later amended after charges again st Dunn were dropped. The original charges, four felony counts, were reduced to misdemeanors in exchange for a plea bargain. Her three co-defendants are expected to receive 96 hours of community service; in Dunn's case this sentence is likely to be waived due to illness." Update: 03/15 02:21 GMT by KD : The prosecutor in the case issued a correction to the eariler pronouncement that Dunn would plead guilty to a misdemeanor. "At court today, Patricia Dunn did not enter any plea in response to the misdemeanor count, and the court exercised its discretion by dismissing the case against her," the revised statement said.
Rubbish! Dunn should still be expected do some light community services despite the illness.
Phone cleaning lady springs to mind, it's lightwork.
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
According to TFA the court dismissed the charges against Dunn - do the submitters not read the TFA either ?
From Wikipedia:
"Dunn has survived breast cancer and melanoma, and was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer in January 2004. Chemotherapy treatment led to remission until August 2006, when she underwent surgery to remove liver metastases. Dunn was scheduled to start chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer on 6 October 2006 at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center."
She didn't plead guilty, the charges were dropped. From TFA:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A state judge in California Wednesday dropped the charges against ex-Hewlett-Packard chair Patricia Dunn, who was accused of wire fraud in the company's boardroom spying scandal. Earlier today the California Attorney General's office issued an incorrect press release stating that defendants would enter guilty pleas to the wire fraud charges.
I'd get a stiffer penalty for jaywalking
These assholes get away clean, with no criminal records and not a day in jail. Wanna bet what would happen to you or I if we got caught doing the same thing?
Her three co-defendants are expected to receive 96 hours of community service; in Dunn's case this sentence is likely to be waived due to illness.
Ah, the system works....oh wait no it doesnt.
Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/14/technology/hpq/ind ex.htm?cnn=yes
"Earlier today the California Attorney General's office issued an incorrect press release stating that defendants would enter guilty pleas to the wire fraud charges."
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
Leeway for the submitter? Okay. But whoever approved it to go on the front page needs to make a correction as quickly as possible. The headline and summary are just plain wrong. Seriously. 180 degrees.
I didn't see it posted as a "mysterious future" article or I would have e-mailed the editor to say, "Hey, this is extremely incorrect, and you need to not post it..."
A regular joe charged with a similar felony probably wouldn't get a chance to plea bargain down to misdemeanor, either. If they did, they'd still get more than a few hours of community service.
Welcome to the real world, though; if you have money, you can walk. It's the capitalistic way!
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It's not just that it was white collar, it's that the people doing it were rich and powerful.
The trouble with saying that it's "white collar" is that it doesn't recognize the real reason she got a pass. She's rich and has powerful friends.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
The fact that your regular folk would have been F'd in the A for something like this while the corporate suits get off pretty lightly, is yet another reason why it's called the legal system as opposed to the justice system.
"I heard-"
"No, I'm Hurd!"
"Hilarious, are you done?"
"No, I'm Dunn, he's Hurd!"
"Okay, what has he heard?"
At this point, I'm willing to bet everyone reading this is glad that none of the participants in this farce is named Watt...
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
The current bottom of the page tagline is rather amusing...
"Some men rob you with a six-gun -- others with a fountain pen. -- Woodie Guthrie"
Well, if CNN revised their article after learning that the AG office's press release was incorrect, they should have posted the revised story as a new story and put a link to the revised story in place of the first one with a note saying that it's been revised. News stories should not be treated like it were the news company's Wiki.
It's somewhat bad policy not to leave some trail of the revision history. Why do journalists feel they can be so sloppy about their work? Do the editors not take their jobs seriously anymore?
I read an interesting article in the New Yorker about this whole fiasco. The underlying theme was that lots of people were responsible for the disaster, but none of them actually realized what was going on. Dunn and Hurd, in particular, repeatedly asked both legal counsel and the people doing the problematic projects whether it was legal. I believe TNY cited evidence of five separate written requests for assessment of legality from Dunn alone, and every one of them came back with repeated assurances that everything was legal, these were routine operations, and there was no problem.
The other point of the article was that Dunn and Hurd both had access to the same material, both helped decide what needed to be done, and directed what was going on, but at the end of the day, Dunn lost her job and was charged with multiple felonies, while Hurd is now running the company.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
Strange that they would make a prediction. Perhaps that is a coverup as to what really happened.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Is that hundred million dollars really worth it?
96 hours, thats a stratjakt-sized work week!
Or 96 Patricia Dunn work weeks.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Read the parents link. Her doctor testified that marijuana is the only drug that allows her to eat. He has tried all other treatments, with no response.
Eating is a biological necessity. Marijuana IS keeping her (and many other similar patients) alive.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
True, but that is not the way it should be. Justice should be blind to money and power as it is to all else except the facts relevant to the case at hand. Arguably, any system where it isn't blind to money and power is a long way from perfect.
This blatant and unapologetic nature of this decision, and others of a similar outcome, point to the particularly greedy and corrosive nature of our system of capitalism. We value money so much that we do not even attempt to disguise the fact that it can buy you out of anything. The rules are different for the rich in America, and we don't care who knows it.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Once in a while, for PR purposes, someone has to take a real fall (eg. Lay, Martha). Usually they get pampered once they're out of the spotlight.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
Whining about how the rich and powerful have it easy in the /. echo chamber is the easiest thing to do. It makes you and the moderators feel better too.
Meanwhile, it's our economy (that means your economic prosperity in comparison to others in the world) that is ultimately harmed when investors all over the globe invest their funds in more transparent markets.
Here in California we voted _lots_ of harsh penalties for violent and drug-related crimes. Who says we can't do the same for white collar crimes?
Oh wait. That means you and I would have to _do_ something about it. Nevermind.
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
Someone who commits a real crime gets off scott free due to illness, whereas,& id=5122773 dying woman is loses her appeal,
on the same day,
in the same state,
this http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=politics
and is sent to prison for smoking dope.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
It's not like that either. Karma is a notion that effects of intentions do not vanish. Literally translated "karma" means intent. It doesn't mean "what's coming to you". The "what's coming to you" part is called karma vipaka. (the result of karma, or karmic "retribution" where retribution is not to be understood in the strictly moralistic sense)
What's unknowable about karma and its results is the specifics. Be a bad person and come back as a bug? We don't know. You can come back as a rich person. You can be a good person and come back as a bug. The specifics are not possible to calculate and/or establish.
What is generally said is that positive mindstream generally flows into positive mindstream. (Not always...no guarantees). So if you're a good person you may become a good bug with a good bug life -- positive experience. You donate lots and help lots of people and you might be reborn as a poor leper who is very happy and satisfied with life. It's not a tit for tat system as you say. No matter how absurdly good your karma is, you can be reborn in hell realm -- it's just that your life won't be that bad there. But this is uncertain.
There is an element of uncertainty in karma and karmic result/retribution. Besides the fact that specifics are unknowable, the general direction is also uncertain. Why? Because it's impossible to establish it. That's why.
The only thing we can be sure about is that the results of actions do not vanish into nothingness. But what exactly happens? Even Buddhas do not know.
That can be. But be careful tossing words around. What is the alternative to being self-satisfied? Is being self-dissatisfied more good? I don't think so. Is being smug that bad? Sure, it rubs your ego the wrong way. Is everything that rubs you the wrong way bad?
What you say seems kind of true on the surface, but under deep investigation it is not at all obvious.
Now, I'm not saying let's all be smug and self-satisfied. I'm just saying your criticism is basically hot air that you cannot support with anything other than your personal feelings (certainly not with reason or logic). Just be aware of that and it will be OK. That's what I think.