I think one of the problem in the Swartz case is that the sentences from multiple felonies add up; otherwise there was no way to arrive at such a ridiculus pena

I think one of the problem in the Swartz case is that the sentences from multiple felonies add up; otherwise there was no way to arrive at such a ridiculus penalty for a copyright violation. In many countries this is not possible, eg. in Austria you will get no more than the maximum sentence even if you are convicted of multiple felonies.