[normanpubbie]

When a topic like this comes up on FR, I read the source article thoroughly several times and look for incongruities and factoids that don't seem to add up. In the first sentence in the article, the reporter notices that American flags are everywhere in the kid's bedroom -- on the wall, on the bed, even on the floor (on the floor?). The reporter didn't ask but I will -- was the bedroom overflagged the night the kid allegedly made the call?

This article immediately brought to mind the case of David Kernell. You remember him, the son of a Tennessee state legislator who hacked into Sarah Palin's email account last fall. He admitted the break-in and was charged with several felonies and is to be tried in October. I hope that no one on this thread thinks that charging Kernell with several felonies was a violation of his due process.

I would like to put in a good word for the Patriot Act, imperfect as it is. Making bomb threats and plotting to fly airplanes into buildings are terrorist acts. Congress would not have passed the Patriot Act and the President would not have signed it into law unless they believed that we needed stronger protection against terrorism.

Mom says that someone else hacked into his IP and he has been arrested without due process. Excuse me, but due process is a two-way street, Ma'am. The lad doesn't have to prove or disprove anything. In our system, the authorities have to prove that he committed the crimes he has been charged with. And unless they have evidence that he committed said crimes, they aren't going to get a conviction. And there would have been no point in bringing charges in the first place nor to maintain the charges. Remember Mike Nifong, former Durham County District Attorney?

Note that young Lundeby, who by the way is home-schooled, has been sitting in a juvenile facility since February 25.

If Ashton Lundeby is tried and acquitted, a lot of decent people will raise a heckuva stink and President Obama and AG Holder will be blamed as they should be.

[microgood]

I would like to put in a good word for the Patriot Act, imperfect as it is. Making bomb threats and plotting to fly airplanes into buildings are terrorist acts. Congress would not have passed the Patriot Act and the President would not have signed it into law unless they believed that we needed stronger protection against terrorism.

Well if you think it is OK to chuck the 5th Amendment in the name of "terrorism", why not the 2nd Amendment as well? I am sure Obama and company would be glad to outlaw guns in the name of "terrorism".

As far as good intentions go, Bush and the Congress passed the Patriot Act without caring whether it was constitutional or not. Hopefully the right to due process will be restored at some point by the courts.

Now they are talking about right-wing extremists and under the Patriot Act, the government can now hold anyone they please in prison for the rest of their natural life without any trial or reason for detainment. I recommend you not attend any tea-parties while Obama is in power.

[Cboldt]

-- If Ashton Lundeby is tried and acquitted, a lot of decent people will raise a heckuva stink --

Has he been charged? I mean, is there an indictment, you know, citing the law that waws broken, and so forth? Two months in the slammer is quite a long time.

[Cboldt]

-- If Ashton Lundeby is tried and acquitted, a lot of decent people will raise a heckuva stink --

But if he's not charged, just held for say 3 months or 6 months or 24 months, then released (but still under suspicion, put on no-fly lists, etc.) everything would be "cool" because he wasn't convicted.

[Cboldt]

-- This article immediately brought to mind the case of David Kernell. --

I don't think it's useful as a parallel (because of substantial differences - the e-mail account in Alaska, indicted in TN; indicted/arraigned in a 2 day period; free pending trial), but here is a summary of how the "indict/detain" process worked:

http://web.knoxnews.com/pdf/kernellarrest.pdf

David C. Kernell, 20, was indicted by a federal grand jury ... Kernell turned himself into federal authorities for arrest and will be arraigned today before the Honorable C. Clifford Shirley, United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of Tennessee. The single count indictment, returned on October 7, 2008, and unsealed today ...

UT student David Kernell pleads not guilty

October 8, 2008: David Christopher Kernell walked into federal court this morning in handcuffs, shackles and tennis shoes to plead not guilty to hacking Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account.

He can stay out of jail for now as long as he stays off his computer. [Literally, it seems. He is not allowed to own a computer and can use the Internet only for checking e-mail and doing class work]

We know that Ashton wasn't indicted in NC, because the "juvenile information has been filed and is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana." Link to PDF of the DOJ May 7, 2009 Press Release

It also appears that the "crime" of Kernell is substantially less weighty than the crime of Lundeby (I think so), which would press in favor of much less government pressure against the defendant.

Palin Email Hack Trial Delayed Until 2009 - PC Magazine

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee moved the trial of David Kernell from December to May 19, 2009 after the government said it needed more time to sift through the evidence. ...

The government said Kernell's legal team raised no objections to delaying the trial. Kernell's lawyers are, however, trying to have the case thrown out. In an October 27 filing, they argued that the government was trying to convict Kernell of a felony when he was guilty of a misdemeanor, if anything.

Kernell was charged with accessing a computer without authorization and obtaining information, which is usually considered a misdemeanor.