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US Attorney General Defends Handling of Aaron Swartz Case
TrueSatan writes in with the latest in the ongoing Aaron Swartz tragedy. "Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday said the suicide death of internet activist Aaron Swartz was a 'tragedy,' but the hacking case against the 26-year-old was 'a good use of prosecutorial discretion.' The attorney general was testifying at a Justice Department oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary committee and was facing terse questioning from Sen. John Cornyn (D-Texas). ...Holder stated: 'I think that's a good use of prosecutorial discretion to look at the conduct, regardless of what the statutory maximums were and to fashion a sentence that was consistent with what the nature of the conduct was. And I think what those prosecutors did in offering 3, 4, zero to 6 was consistent with that conduct.' Notwithstanding Holder's testimony, Massachusetts federal prosecutors twice indicted Swartz for the alleged hacking, once in 2011 on four felonies and again last year on 13 felonies. The case included hacking charges under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that was passed in 1984 to enhance the government's ability to prosecute hackers who accessed computers to steal information or to disrupt or destroy computer functionality."
The case included hacking charges under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that was passed in 1984 to enhance the government's ability to
... be so overly vague as to make anyone who uses a computer for any reason, by any method, a felon? Because that act is the quintessential example of how not to do it, and it's quoted by law professors all over the country as a shining example of the problems caused by strict liability laws.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
It would be the honorable thing to do.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
There has been a significant trend in America that punishment is intended not to provide a reasonable deterrent to crime, but to set an example to keep the rest in line. The higher the possible sentence, the more likely it is for the defendant to plead down to something, or be turned against another defendant in exchange for immunity. All of this is intended to save the prosecutor the hassle of making his case in court.
Eric Holder is promoting a legal version of the Tarkin Doctrine.
The puppy sitting next to a big poo on the carpet also claims that it wasn't his fault...
Yes, but a puppy is too young to know better. Puppies can be trained not to shit on everything, unlike US Attorney Generals.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Plea bargains make people plead guilty all the time. I remember when Wennatchee sex ring scandal happened. The whole population wanted justice, hang the child rapists! The state went for life sentences for all 40+ people accused.
Many of the people pleaded guilty when they faced life in prison. Only after years of litigation did it come out the entire thing was a hoax. No child was raped.
The stresses this young man faced shouldn't be the norm. Obama was suppose to be the voice the people, the people who work in his administration should echo his values.
I can only hope that a 3rd party takes off someday, we really need to vote the bastards out, not vote pretend in a 2 party system.
Except we are talking about not a car but to utterly destroy another person's life. That is the problem in a nutshell with the current system, unless you have a cool quarter million to throw away on a defense you are screwed either way because the state has unlimited resources.
I should know as I had a friend that lost a house that had been in his family 4 generations because of this kind of plea bargaining horseshit. He was in the midst of a REALLY nasty divorce (heard of a midlife crisis? Well it was her and not him that had one, started fucking a 20 year old on the side) when the bitch got pissed and pulled a "tell the cops daddy touched you and you'll get a new car for sweet sixteen" move. Even the cops ended up testifying for him, saying the girl changed her story so many times there was zero credibility but it turned out the local prosecutor was raped in college and from that point on if you had a penis you were a rapist so by the time she got done digging up every possible charge she could come up with he was looking at triple life. The lawyer fees ended up costing him everything and the bitch used this to her advantage by getting sole custody of his son while he was tied up with the fight for his freedom. She took him overseas and he has never seen him since, wouldn't even recognize his own son if he ran into him on the street.
so by piling on the charges not only do they try to force a plea bargain by how much time you are looking at but they know your lawyer fees will cost more with each charge so even if you win? Like my friend you lose. He went from having a great job, 2 rental properties and his son to having nothing but a used car and a rented trailer. Some victory huh?
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
As all these happened in the United States of America, why don't we go back all the way to the beginning of the United States of America - to what the founding fathers had in mind for their new country
What was the one thing that irritated the founding fathers the most ?
An abusive government
It was precisely because of the abuses from the Brits that the American colonialists just couldn't stand it no more and decided to take up arms and revolt
There are over 200 countries in this world, and the United States of America is one of the handful of countries where not only popular revolution was the spark that had created the country, but also that the founding fathers was thoughtful enough to write down their wish and blessings for the new country that they had formed, and their wish was also expressed in the Constitution, along with the Bill of Rights
The current form of the American government is exactly the form of government that the founding fathers would fight vehemently against
As an American who isn't staying inside America, I am sad to say that most of my fellow Americans have no idea what America is all about
How many of my fellow American understand the duty of being an American citizen?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !