It wasn't just Ortiz. Judge Nathaniel Gorton played a huge role: Gorton is well known to the Massachusetts Bar, whose members whisper he rarely meets an indict

It wasn't just Ortiz. Judge Nathaniel Gorton played a huge role: Gorton is well known to the Massachusetts Bar, whose members whisper he rarely meets an indictment he doesn’t like. He’s noted as a hanging judge; prosecutors go out of their way to get high-profile cases assigned to him. After Swartz drew Gorton, his defense lawyers told Heymann the pressure of the case had rendered Swartz suicidal, his attorney later said he told prosecutors. “Fine, we’ll lock him up,” [Judge] Heymann responded. Swartz killed himself shortly thereafter, in January 2013. from https://theintercept.com/2021/02/15/marty-walsh-aaron-swartz-carmen-ortiz/ https://theintercept.com/2021/02/15/marty-walsh-aaron-swartz...