Posted on 02/15/2013 6:54:51 PM PST by NoLibZone
The case of computer whiz Aaron Swartz -- who committed suicide after federal prosecutors charged him with 13 felony fraud counts -- has become, for some, emblematic of how overzealous prosecutors are going too far in pursuit of a win.
The shocking suicide -- the 26-year-old co-creator of RSS and Reddit hanged himself last month -- has led to calls to rein in the practice of overcharging defendants.
Swartz could have been punished with up to 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines -- a greater penalty than some murderers face. And it was all for downloading millions of academic documents that were available at the M.I.T. Library for a small fee.
U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz issued a statement after Swartz's suicide that read in part, "At no time did this office ever seek -- or ever tell Mr. Swartz's attorneys that it intended to seek -- maximum penalties under the law."
Still, some scholars believe the Swartz prosecution is symptomatic of a fundamental shift in tactics at U.S. attorneys' offices across the country, as well as for local prosecutors.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/15/win-at-all-costs-suicide-computer-whiz-prompts-look-at-federal-prosecutors/#ixzz2L1hIluUt
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
We need to hire these same Federal Regulators to whup up on our sorry politicians.
I have read, because of his Harvard affiliation, he could have downloaded them through Harvard for no fee.
The man was not downloading information for profit. He has contributed more in his short life than most of us.
Murderers and rapists walk free in a few years. He was pursued and threatened for decades in prison by a politically ambitious AG .
” in which he returned the downloaded material. “
He didn’t delete it from the servers when he copied it, that makes no sense. He returned copies of what he downloaded?
As for vicious prosecutions, look what they did in the Amerithrax cases, both men were basically tortured.
Yes, it is frequently true that crime victims have little say in how the prosecution goes. Apparently FedGov has little tolerance for people who hack major systems. Can’t wait to see Obama’s new cybersecurity EO’s.
Meanwhile Jon Corzine walks free
“He has contributed more in his short life than most of us.”
Well I guess that justifies anything else he might have done. Several people have mentioned this moral-relativity defense.
I do think his prosecution was over the top. As I mentioned above the Amerithrax cases, and the Richard Jewell case and many others show that the feds have rigged the system. For instance the defense cannot, in a Federal trial, bring up anything that the Federal prosecution has not brought up, which includes exculpatory evidence.
Personally, I think pitchforks, tar and feathering is a noble tradition that should be revived.
I was raised from the mid ‘50’s....to respect law and order; courts and cops.
Today......I have as much respect for the courts as I do for cops.....which is .......zero. Nada. Zilch.
They brought it upon themselves. To Hell with all of them.
These guys go out of their way to ruin a productive member of society but look the other way when it comes to illegal aliens. Then they go home and pat themselves on the back. The system is broken.
I am fighting to have access, not custody, to/of my son. I was told by my lawyer, “There is nothing reasonable or fair about the law”. My response was, “Then why does it command our allegiance?”.
I received no answer.
Exactly.With each passing day I have less and less respect for these "institutions".I was always taught that as time passed my respect would *grow*.Thanks a bunch,Bill Ayers & Pals!
Your Post 28 is spot-on.
No, not common sense - what's missing (by manipulation) is common law.
The grand jury was where citizens took their criminal complaints; the GJ then investigated and told the prosecutor to press charges and convene the court. Not sure when, but it has been turned upside down to where the victim gets little if any justice, and all too often the criminal gets railroaded by the process.
Your daddy was probably unaware that the gov't will simply employ a snitch to claim there was some, in order for them to start some.
Your behavior is irrelevant. If they want a piece of you, they will take it and leave your backside smarting.
He yelled at me, "Whats this!!?? What IS this! As he shook the bag in my face.
I said, "I think its tiny lightbulbs."
That made him very angry and he looked like he was having a heart attack. His fat fingers couldn't open the bag properly and he ripped it and about a hundred tiny LED bulbs flew into the air and bounced on the ground in front of his feet.
Guess if he said sorry! Guess if he asked the cost of the bulbs he dumped on the road. Guess if he stooped to even try and pick them up.
I still hope that jerk gets erectile dysfunction.
The second time I had to call a cop was when my father-in-laws closed bike shop got broken into. The responding cop actually helped himself to more inventory than the punk kids stole. Seriously. He said he needed tubes for his kids bike. New tires would be cool too. And wow, those old school grips would match his Mongoose. I guess I should have told him to get bent but.. hes a cop. I was a chick that needed a cop.
And lets not even get started on the disaster that is the LAPD.
Firemen on the other hand ARE awesome. I called them once for fire in a bar. The fire was in the wall where a welder had dropped hot metal (solder?) from some security bars he was putting on the windows. The firemen came in and tarped the jukebox and pool tables before they hosed the place. They ROCKED! The back of the building burned to the ground but everything under the tarp was saved. I know it wasn't anything terribly valuable but they treated it like it was. I still have that jukebox in my studio. Its a killer old Rowe 100C. I'll never forget those sexy firemen!
While everyone was watching NBA and NFL ...
The commies plotted to infiltrate all the institutions, Gramsci style.
The commies plotted to gain control of guns and ammunition -- still in progress.
The commies plotted to gain control of water, for irrigation, for drinking, for watering lawns and gardens -- in progress.
The commies plotted to gain control of K-12 education (they already had control of colleges and universities).
The commies plotted to gain control of food production, distribution, and consumption.
And on, and on, the commies plot to gain control of everything essential to life and liberty.
And the commies plotted to gain control of all research information. Swartz, a budding commie himself, stumbled onto that plot, and experienced an epiphany. Therefore, he had to be eliminated.
Reads like a spy/thriller, almost. If only it were fiction.
"JSTOR -- the only plausible entity "harmed" by Aaron's acts -- pled "no foul." JSTOR did not want Swartz prosecuted. It settled any possible civil claims against Swartz with the simple promise that he return what he had downloaded. Swartz did. JSTOR went away."
"But the government did not. In the weeks before his death, the government reaffirmed what they had been insisting upon for the 18 months before: jail, a felony conviction, and a bankrupting fine, or else Swartz was going to face a bankrupting trial."
I wonder if Solzhenitsyn would agree?
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