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As someone who has been following this case very closely since the beginning and is familiar with everyone involved: The way this man has been treated is a dis
by 1000units 9y ago
As someone who has been following this case very closely since the beginning and is familiar with everyone involved:
The way this man has been treated is a disgrace to our judicial system and society.
- rsanheim 9y agoCare to elaborate?
- perardi 9y agoHe’s an absolutely loathsome creature, up to and including the point where he put out a bounty for Hillary Clinton’s hair. (It’s just a joke, guys! C’mon! Just bros bein’ bros!) But that’s the problem. You can’t really have rule of law and increase someone’s punishment because, well, they’re an asshole. The amount of legally-defined harm he caused is trivial. You can argue they’re putting every possible punishment they can on top because he was a dick who raised the price of drugs and is seemingly 4Chan incarnate. (But oh man is that little pharma bro manlet so punchable. So, so punchable.)
- 1000units 9y agoWatch out before you throw any punches, he's tough. He's going to bounce back from all of this.
- DenisM 9y ago>You can’t really have rule of law and increase someone’s punishment because, well, they’re an asshole His punishment is not even known yet, the sentencing is not due for another seven weeks. Perhaps you meant it more broadly, then where do you see injustice being done? Is the evidence made up? Was the jury rigged or unduly influenced? Was he deprived of legal counsel?
- TheAdamAndChe 9y agoI'm not so sure. If a person has historically been an outstanding citizen, I think that it should be considered when judging someone. Otherwise, why not just have a single punishment with a predetermined timespan for every single conviction?
- perardi 9y agoThis is me half-heartedly playing devil’s advocate. I think a lot of other people have caused more harm, but they are going after him and his toys because he’s being such an obnoxious little shit. But that’s a bit of a problem. You get one high-profile conviction of this rent-seeking troll, and not as much attention towards more systemically harmful actors. So, a bit of a “finite legal resources” model and a bit of “bread and circus”. But it’s a half-argued argument. I’m glad to see financial engineering narcissists get karmic Justice.
- Larrikin 9y agoThe opposite is supposed to be a component of our judicial system, in that during sentencing leniency can be applied for people that have otherwise been good citizens/are actually apologetic about their crime. It has been thoroughly been abused in that aspect, especially when it comes to sentencing for similar crimes when there is simply a difference of race. But in the case of people being uncooperative and showing no remorse the system was designed to be able to allow the judge to give them the maximum sentence. He did everything possible to ensure that outcome.
- AdamJacobMuller 9y agoI don't even find him to be particularly loathsome, really. The thing is, Shkreli is a provocateur. He says and does things to elicit a reaction from people. He very clearly said one too many stupid things and as a result of it, they are throwing the book at him VERY hard here. Whereas with someone else in his position, there probably would have been a quiet settlement for time served with little to no fines (as there are no real damages that I can see) there's literally no way that they can do that here. There are WAY too many eyes on this case for them to cut him a deal even if such a deal is de rigueur and that is 100% Shkreli's fault. He pushed and he pushed and he pushed till he built up so much bad karma that he literally ended up in jail. Even when he does things that, when you look into them REALLY deeply are perhaps good (like the Epi-Pen fiasco), he comes off 100% as an arrogant asshole who deserves condemnation anyway.
- aklemm 9y agoProvocateurs wreak havoc by emboldening the idiots that love them. That's enough to make an example of him.
- AdamJacobMuller 9y agoPeople shouldn't be judged, or jailed, for the actions of others.
- Larrikin 9y agoWhen you encourage people to commit a crime, and offer money for said crime, you should absolutely be jailed and judged for that.
- 1000units 9y agoFunnily enough, I think his issue is he's too principled. He hadn't allowed himself to be silenced by people he rightfully viewed as misinformed or poorly motivated. He's very proud and stubborn, and it'd be dishonest to say he doesn't deserve it.
- testouts 9y agono they dont , they care to take the top comment stop and show once again that HN is becomeing useless. Im all for the removal of politics but can you remove the dumb stuff at the same time. That would be cool.
- thesmallestcat 9y agoTIL "top comment stop (sic)" can be taken at will be intrepid HNers.
- 1000units 9y agoSurely I am not so skilled. I simply offer my humble thoughts.
- aerovistae 9y agoIs it? Seems fair to me that if you antagonize everyone under the sun, it comes back to bite you. I would hate to live in a system that worked by the letter and just said "Well, can't touch him, he didn't TECHNICALLY break any laws...." Like what if you had a stalker who wasn't TECHNICALLY violating any of the terms of his restraining order but was doing everything in their power to make your miserable anyway? Is it a disgrace for the law to find a way to stick it to them?
- 1000units 9y agoI don't think you understand what you are advocating. The letter of the law is sacred. This is fundamental jurisprudence. If you don't like the system, we have something called legislature to change it.
- teej 9y agoThe charter and purpose of the judicial system is to interpret the law. The “letter of the law” is not sacred.
- fenomas 9y ago> The way this man has been treated is a disgrace to our judicial system and society. This comment reminds me of something Popehat wrote about Aaron Swartz: > In short, Swartz's team seemed to view this as an unjust and broken application of a system to an undeserving man, not recognizing that the system is rigged and unjust and broken from the start. That's common among smart, educated, fortunate people. As I have discussed before, my fortunate clients are the most outraged at how they are treated by the criminal justice system, and most prone to seeing conspiracies and vendettas, because they are new to it — they have not questioned the premise that the system's goal is justice. My clients who have lived difficult lives in hard neighborhoods don't see a conspiracy; they recognize incompetence and brutal indifference and injustice as features, not bugs. https://www.popehat.com/2014/08/07/the-allure-of-unquestioned-premises-the-internets-own-boy-the-story-of-aaron-swartz/ https://www.popehat.com/2014/08/07/the-allure-of-unquestione...
- Clubber 9y agoWow that quote really hits you like a brick.
- thaumaturgy 9y agoYou're right. The pharmaceutical exploitation that got the spotlight shined on him in the first place was reprehensible, to put it mildly. But there are an awful lot of other crooks out there taking advantage of as many or more people, and often getting away with it with very little consequence. I may not like him, but being dislikable shouldn't have that much effect on punishment.
- throwaway0255 9y ago> The pharmaceutical exploitation that got the spotlight shined on him in the first place was reprehensible, to put it mildly. Can you explain why? If you think it's immoral for the profit motive to be in play when it comes to healthcare, then fine. But to single him out like he's some kind of extreme amoral outlier or something seems really unfair. Most people got the drug for free or at an extreme discount, and he spent all the profits on drug research. What he did is pretty much how the entire pharmaceutical industry works.
- fjsolwmv 9y agoHe spent some of the profits on a WuTang album
- cm2187 9y agoI don’t feel bad for Al Capone getting a lengthy jail term for tax fraud when everyone knows it wasn’t really about taxes
- 1000units 9y agoThis seems to me a very suggestive comment. What do you suppose he is really being punished for?
- nrb 9y agoOrganized crime and murder?
- yjftsjthsd-h 9y agoHonestly? If they can't legally prove the other stuff, then he shouldn't be prosecuted for it. Perverting justice in order to "catch the bad guy" is a terrible idea.
- fjsolwmv 9y agoIt's not perversion, it's discretion and judgment
- yjftsjthsd-h 9y agoBasing sentencing on a separate, unproven, crime is a complete perversion and betrayal of justice.
- cm2187 9y agoWhat about sentencing based on character? Two citizens commit the same crime and may get vastly different sentences. But that happens all the time.
- yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
- Clubber 9y agoYes, they weren't trying to fix the Pharma gouging, they were trying to make it look like they fixed the Pharma gouging without hurting any of their donors. And most of the news organizations bought it hook, line and sinker (ignorantly or willingly) because it sold advertisements.
- lox 9y agoCare to expand on that? This guys by all accounts seems like a truly horrible human.
- exabrial 9y agoBut, they're still a human being, even if they're terrible. Every person has intrinsic value and rights. I think we fool ourselves into thinking somehow we're morally superior to other people and you only own your rights if you're a 'good person'.
- strathmeyer 9y agoWhat are you trying to say? Break the law, go to jail.