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NASA Hacker Wins Right to Extradition Hearing

Posted by samzenpus on from the just-send-him-over dept.

E5Rebel writes "Gary McKinnon, the UK-based ex-systems administrator accused of conducting the biggest military hack of all time, has won the right to have his case against extradition to the U.S. heard by the House of Lords."

3 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. Plea bargain by l33t.g33k · · Score: 5, Informative
    From TFA:

    They accused US investigators of trying to coerce McKinnon into accepting a secret plea bargain by threatening him with a long prison sentence if he did not collaborate.
    Hmmm... that's a strange thing to criticize... this is a pretty standard practice in US criminal law - cooperate, forfeit your right to a trial, and you get off easy.
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    1. Re:Plea bargain by QuantumG · · Score: 5, Informative
      I once had a police offer tell me that, in the UK and Australia, such things are illegal. This is actually just holding the police to the same standard as the rest of society. In the US there's laws against "making deals" but they don't apply to the police (or the government's prosecutors). For example:

      519.030 Compounding a crime.
      (1) A person is guilty of compounding a crime when:
      (a) He solicits, accepts or agrees to accept any benefit upon an agreement or
      understanding that he will refrain from initiating a prosecution for a crime; or
      (b) He confers, offers, or agrees to confer any benefit upon another person upon
      agreement or understanding that such other person will refrain from initiating
      a prosecution for a crime.
      (2) In any prosecution under this section, it is a defense that the benefit did not exceed
      an amount which the defendant reasonably believed to be due as restitution or
      indemnification for harm caused by the offense.
      (3) Compounding a crime is a Class A misdemeanor. So yeah, if I shoot you and say "I'll give you $10k to keep quiet" then I'm compounding a crime. If you accept then we're both compounding a crime.

      Most the time the deals made in the US are of the "plead guilty" variety, not the "talk and we won't prosecute" variety, so this particular law wouldn't apply, but you get the idea.
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  2. The Law Lords by flyingfsck · · Score: 5, Informative

    is not the same thing as the House of Lords. The Law Lords is the highest court in the British Commonwealth.

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