4 ms·
They offered him a plea deal for a few months (6?) if he pleaded guilty. The club they beat him with was the threat to pursue 50 years if he fought the charges
by forgotAgain 13y ago
They offered him a plea deal for a few months (6?) if he pleaded guilty. The club they beat him with was the threat to pursue 50 years if he fought the charges.
The prosecutor basically did sell him as an Al Capone of computer hacking; a threat to the nation, Mom, apple pie, and all that is good and right in America.
- tptacek 13y agoNo, that's not true. We know it's not true because Aaron Swartz's lawyer disclosed the sentence they were threatening him with at trial, and it was nothing resembling that number. You can go look it up yourself. In the meantime, one wonders: since we know the number you stated can't possibly be true, where did it come from? What enabled you to confidently state that Swartz was threatened with a 50 year sentence?
- forgotAgain 13y agoMy apologizes it wasn't 50 years, it was 35. Federal prosecutors later charged him with two counts of wire fraud and 11 violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,[17] carrying a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution and supervised release.[18] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz [Edit] Background information is also available here. It verifies the number of charges filed but not the total length of the possible prison term involved: http://video.pbs.org/video/2325573247 http://video.pbs.org/video/2325573247
- tptacek 13y agoNo, you are still not even close. What's more, you didn't even respond to my comment; you simply parroted again the press release maximum sentence. Press release maximum sentences bear almost no relationship to reality. Once again: we know what he was actually threatened with. His lawyer disclosed it.
- forgotAgain 13y agoI've supplied a reference to what his maximum sentence could be given the crimes he was charged with. Where is your reference to the contrary?
- tptacek 13y agoI'm going to let you do your own homework, because I expect that when I show you you're wrong, rather than thanking me for correcting you, you're going to get indignant and find some way to attack both me and the actual correct answer to the question. Maybe if you look it up yourself, that won't happen. I've given you more than enough detail to go find the right answer. You can in the meantime take my word for it on two things: (1) that Swartz was threatened with a specific sentence recommendation that was nowhere near 35 years (it was still a very tough sentence totally out of proportion to what he did) and (2) that a DoJ press release maximum sentence bears no resemblance to the sentences CFAA convicts can expect to receive from a judge.
- forgotAgain 13y agoWhen you significantly edit a comment it's usually considered good form to label the changes.
- tptacek 13y agoNone of my comments were edited at any point near any of yours.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- tzs 13y agoRead this: http://www.volokh.com/2013/01/16/the-criminal-charges-against-aaron-swartz-part-2-prosecutorial-discretion/ http://www.volokh.com/2013/01/16/the-criminal-charges-agains...