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Gary McKinnon Loses Extradition Appeal
G0rAk writes "The BBC is reporting that hacker Gary McKinnon has lost his High Court appeal against extradition to the United States. The fight is not yet over yet: 'We will certainly be applying for this court to certify a point of law of public importance and to grant leave.' said his lawyer, referring to alleged threats by US authorities. One New Jersey prosecutor apparently has stated that that 'he would fry,' a statement that would be among issues raised when they take they appeal to the House of Lords."
I'm fairly sure that's not how I submitted it not.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Who is Gary McKinnon?
Someone who has a very high opinion of himself. Some might say he has an overactive ego. Regardless, he did some naughty things and much to his surprise, his kiddy skillz weren't enough to keep him out of trouble. He's been whining ever since.
Yeah, I think that might cover it.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
"I found a list of officers' names," he claims, "under the heading 'Non-Terrestrial Officers'."
"Non-Terrestrial Officers?" I say.
"Yeah, I looked it up," says Gary, "and it's nowhere. It doesn't mean little green men. What I think it means is not earth-based. I found a list of 'fleet-to-fleet transfers', and a list of ship names. I looked them up. They weren't US navy ships. What I saw made me believe they have some kind of spaceship, off-planet."
"The Americans have a secret spaceship?" I ask.
"That's what this trickle of evidence has led me to believe."
"Some kind of other Mir that nobody knows about?"
"I guess so," says Gary.
"What were the ship names?"
"I can't remember," says Gary. "I was smoking a lot of dope at the time. Not good for the intellect."
Actually, it is pretty widespread in the US and hardly limited to the "Bible Belt". I also wouldn't call many of the states where the DP is no longer practiced "progressive". And if you check out the map here you might find that there are a few more countries still holding on to the death penalty then you originally thought. It isn't just something used by those oppressive regimes.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
Are you stupid or something? We extradite our own citizens like this. Only in Slashdot could something this ignorant be modded higher.
Come, come... Surely, you do not honestly believe, there was such a threat thrown. The prosecutor's threat "to fry him" was, obviously in jest and no more death-threatening, than promises to "destroy competition" — made by sportsmen and businesses daily — are, for example.
Even if the prosecutor wanted, he would not be able to do it — although New Jersey has capital punishment on the books, it has not executed anyone since 1976... And not for lack of seriously violent crimes in the State — they are not going to execute a computer hacker, if they let murderers and rapists live.
Mr. McKinnon's lawyers are absolutely right to milk the Americans' "threats" for all they can (and more) to help their client — it is their job. But for you to seriously buy into that is rather foolish...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
That would depend on which sovereign is trying the defendant. Some states have the death penalty, others have outlawed it. The FEDERAL government does have the death penalty.
Since in this case the crime is against the Department of Defense, it would be a federal crime, under federal jurisdiction.
However, hacking is not a capital offense under any jurisdiction, so far as I am aware. When the prosecutor said he would fry, it was a figure of speech.
That being said, if I were the U.K. I sure as hell wouldn't extradite one of my citizens to a country where due process and habeas corpus have recently been ruled to not apply to "enemy combatants," a designation which is applied to non-citizens solely at the discretion of the executive branch. Under our constitutional system of justice, he would not have anything to worry about as far as the death penalty -- but since he hacked the military, and the government could ignore the constitutional system of justice by uttering the magic words. . .
Well, that probably wouldn't happen. Probably.
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from the article you cite:
"A FORMER US marine who sparked an international manhunt after allegedly abducting a 12-year-old British girl he had befriended on the internet was extradited to the UK from Germany yesterday."
he was arrested in germany, not extradited from the US.
stupid, indeed.
Gimme a break. Do you really think that any court in America would give this punk the death penalty? This shows absolute ignorance of U.S. laws.
In the U.S. there are only two crimes for which you can get the death penalty: 1st Degree (pre-meditated) murder and treason. And treason has only been punished capitally a very few times in the entire history of the U.S., and most of those involved murder as well. And even in states that have capital punishment, in the vast majority of murder cases, prosecutors rarely go after the death penalty. Well, except for maybe Texas.
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Yes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Misuse_Act_1 990
Nothing to see here. Move along.
No? We just extradited the dog, dude! Point is that it happens all the time. We have something things called extradition treaties with other nations. The GP is an ignoramus.
No, not the UK. The USA extradites its citizens to Mexico instead.
Dog' the Bounty Hunter loses extradition battle
>Are the prisons in the UK any better?
Sat TV, collage courses, gyms, all the comoforts of home. TBH it depends on the category of prisoner but a chap who sits next to me at work plays football against prison teams and says the one's he sees are pretty cushy. I'm sure others are less savoury and we're always being told how crowded they are so I guess the answer is mixed.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
>[prisons in the UK have] Sat TV, collage courses, gyms, all the comoforts of home.
Except, that is, for the prisoners who'll live in cargo containers.
I agree with you in that the prosecutor should be dismissed When it comes to whether or not his statements should factor into the outcome of the deportation hearings, however, I beg to differ, and, at least in this country, so do the courts.
United States of America v. Cobb, [2001] 1 S.C.R. 587, 2001 SCC 19
The defendants were accused of running a telemarketing scam, making phone calls from Canada and bilking people in the US. In a media interview, the US prosecutor said to the defendants, "You're going to be the boyfriend of a very bad man if you wait out your extradition." Further, the US judge sentencing a co-conspirator in the case said that defendants who didn't cooperate (ie, submit to extradition) would receive the "absolute maximum jail sentence". That was enough for the Supreme Court to refuse to extradite them, and IMHO, rightly so.
There is a spellbook here; eat it? [ynq]
Metropolitcan police shot Jean Charles de Menezes in the head numerous times.
While this is an extreme case, the UK is not all that concerned about a lot of things it should be. The policemen were acquitted....
They wern't "acquitted", since they were never even charged with an crime. AFAIK they wern't even arrested.
If he gets shipped over to the States, he will have his human rights violated.
Somehow, I believe something *more* than his human rights will be violated.
What I dont understand is why the UK does not understand that he commited whatever crimes he commited in the UK. As you said, there is surely some kind of political agenda before this... poor sucker. Of course I do not condone what he did, he indeed commited a crime but he should be judged and charged *where* he commited it, in the UK and not in whatever country wants who wants to charge it.
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Terrorism is not a crime in the U.S. for which one can receive the death penalty (unless people were directly killed by the act -- in which case it could become a 1st Degree murder case ala Timothy McVeigh).
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"Gimme a break. Do you really think that any court in America would give this punk the death penalty?"
I don't think it does matter. The thing is that USA applies death penalty. That should be enough for any civilized country not to maintain an extradition treaty with such a country.
"And even in states that have capital punishment, in the vast majority of murder cases, prosecutors rarely go after the death penalty."
Just 1057 times in 2006 only.