5 ms·
It looks like this charge can carry the death penalty because it involves "communications intelligence". From http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/794 ht
by codex 13y ago
It looks like this charge can carry the death penalty because it involves "communications intelligence". From
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/794 http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/794:
"(a) Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, communicates, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to communicate, deliver, or transmit, to any foreign government, or to any faction or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States, or to any representative, officer, agent, employee, subject, or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly, any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information relating to the national defense, shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life, except that the sentence of death shall not be imposed unless the jury or, if there is no jury, the court, further finds that the offense resulted in the identification by a foreign power (as defined in section 101(a) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978) of an individual acting as an agent of the United States and consequently in the death of that individual, or directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, early warning systems, or other means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack; war plans; communications intelligence or cryptographic information; or any other major weapons system or major element of defense strategy."
- spdy 13y agoNow the states he can move to just went up. Death penalty: Many countries, such as Australia, Canada, Macao, New Zealand, South Africa, and most European nations except Belarus, will not allow extradition if the death penalty may be imposed on the suspect unless they are assured that the death sentence will not be passed or carried out.
- skwirl 13y agoThe U.S. would waive the death penalty to get him back from any of those countries, as they regularly do. I seriously doubt there is any chance they would seek it, anyway.
- neurotech1 13y agoSome countries also prohibit extradition for life sentences. I remember hearing about one extradition case, they capped the sentence at 60 years, for that reason.
- mpyne 13y agoEh, even that would be effectively a life sentence here, don't think the U.S. would mind.
- monkeynotes 13y agoI don't think Virginia allows the death penalty for espionage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Virginia#Capital_offenses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Virginia#...
- gohrt 13y agoVirginia can not forcibly prevent a Federal captial punishment.
- dragonwriter 13y ago> I don't think Virginia allows the death penalty for espionage: I'd be surprised if espionage, per se, is even an offense under Virginia state law, but it really doesn't matter what Virginia law is since he is being charged with crimes under federal law in federal court that happens to be located in Virginia. There are times when federal courts, for a variety of reasons, hear state law claims, and in those cases the remedies allowed by the state are relevant. But when federal courts hear federal claims, the state law of the state in which the federal court happens to sit is irrelevant.
- dripton 13y agoIf it's a Federal charge, Virginia law doesn't matter.
- malandrew 13y agoI would hope that those countries also have an extradition exception for torture, including: (1) solitary confinement; (2) sleep deprivation; (3) water boarding and any other cruel and unusual punishment.
- achughes 13y agoIf they didn't give Robert Hanssen the death penalty, I highly doubt Snowden is going to get it
- devb 13y agoThe federal government pursued the death penalty against Brian Patrick Regan in 2003. The jury decided against the punishment, however, and is now serving a life sentence without parole.
- unimpressive 13y agoHim or the Jury?
- devb 13y agoThe prosecuters asked the jury to choose the death penalty but they declined to do so.
- achughes 13y agoHe had also made an offer to foreign governments to sell the information, and judging by the fact that he was carrying classified documents with him when he was arrested, I'd say that he planned on acting on those offers. By contrast, AFAIK Snowden has made no such offer and has not talked with the Chinese government.
- devb 13y agoI agree that what Regan attempted to do was far worse than what Snowden did. It's not even in the same category. I was just pointing out that the feds did pursue the death penalty in this case despite not pursuing it in the Hanssen case.
- mpyne 13y agoThey also didn't sentence John Walker to death, and he arguably puts Snowden and Manning combined into the minor leagues.
- genwin 13y ago> ... the sentence of death shall not be imposed unless the jury or, if there is no jury, the court, further finds ... Why even pretend it's a gov't for the people anymore?
- wtallis 13y agoDefendants can waive the right to trial by jury and instead be subjected to a bench trial. Laws like this need to account for the possibility that the finder of fact may be the judge instead of a jury.
- betterunix 13y agoYou have the right to waive your right to a jury, as it turns out. There might be good reasons for this; maybe you do not believe it is possible for an unbiased jury to be assembled for your case (because it is all over the media and most people already think you are guilty). Maybe your defense hinges on highly technical details that an average juror cannot be expected to understand, but that a well-educated judge can. As it so happens, juries are not required for a government to be legitimate, to respect the rights of its citizens, or for trials to be democratic. Quite a few legal systems in the present day and historically have a panel of judges decide criminal cases. Neither system is perfect.
- mpyne 13y agoGreat point. In fact, Pfc. Manning has done exactly this IIRC: He is asking for bench trial so that the judge alone decides his fate.
- guelo 13y agoLooks like he's charged under 793 not 794 http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/716865-snowden-complaint.html http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/716865-snowden-compla... 793 is less serious in that it doesn't accuse him of aiding a foreign government http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I/chapter-37 http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I/chapter-37