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U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

reuters.com

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Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#81

Post by edbob »

munk-a wrote: post #26
IMTDb wrote: post #14

> “It is, unfortunately, no exaggeration to say that a prison sentence today can amount to the imposition of a serious health crisis, even a death sentence, given the BOP’s (Federal Bureau of Prisons) current inability to control the spread of the coronavirus,” No exaggeration ? °-°

Not a huge exaggeration - but I'd like to see some explanation of why that's in any way relevant to the trial. Maybe the DOJ should be requesting funds from congress to help improve prison safety or even look at upscaling work-release programs - or maybe the executive branch could pardon all those low level drug offenders and the DOJ could finally remove mandatory sentencing rules around possession charges. Maybe in…

> He can take on the same risks that society deems appropriate for black kids who had a joint behind their ear.

I spent 10 years incarcerated in TDCJ, and I don't appreciate you spreading falsehoods like this. There are a lot of reasons that people go to prison, and a very small number claim to be innocent (and some are, I just don't know which ones). But I never met anyone who was down for just a joint. Maybe if the joint constituted a violation of probation for aggravated robbery or statutory rape or something like that, but never for just a joint.

Most of you who talk like this don't even know the people that you think are so oppressed. It's no surprise that you complain about imaginary problems while being completely ignorant of the real issues.

Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#82

Post by esoterica »

bloomboom wrote: post #19

This is a great example of unequal prosecution. A startup that has its IP copied illegally would be lucky to not be ignored by the feds. Even if it was the proximate cause of a startup’s failure (which is admittedly rare). But for Google and Goldman Sachs which never suffer any real damage in these cases, the feds are their private army capable of raiding and imprisoning anyone who copies some files illegally, even i…

IP infringement is typically a civil offense, not a criminal one. What Lewandowski allegedly did was corporate espionage, which is a crime, and a different and much more serious offense than merely illegal copying someone's IP.

Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#83

Post by azernik »

felipemnoa wrote: post #74
cle wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not when you include the blotter paper in the weight, which is what police often do, in that case it'd likely be <10 doses.

To clarify, you are assuming (a big if since the poster made no mention of this) that 12g includes the weight of the paper and if you were to discount that weight then you would get a lesser amount of LSD? i.e. If the paper weighs 11 g then the actual LSD amount would be 1g.

Yes, that's the claim (which seems supported elsewhere in the thread).

You are probably underestimating the magnitude of the effect, though. A single square of blotter paper weighs on the order of 10 mg; it holds a dose on the order of 50-100 micrograms, about 1% of the paper mass.

Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#84

Post by ebg13 »

felipemnoa wrote: post #74
cle wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not when you include the blotter paper in the weight, which is what police often do, in that case it'd likely be <10 doses.

To clarify, you are assuming (a big if since the poster made no mention of this) that 12g includes the weight of the paper and if you were to discount that weight then you would get a lesser amount of LSD? i.e. If the paper weighs 11 g then the actual LSD amount would be 1g.

Having been myself on grand juries for drug prosecution and subsequently reading more about the process, this is not just a baseless assumption. Including carrier weight is SOP from police+DA for drug charges, and they're not upfront about that fact when talking to the jury. When they say "X grams of Y" what they always mean is "X grams of thing containing Y" which could mean anywhere from X grams of Y to X femtograms of Y in tablets that are mostly chalk. They do this because the legal code isn't specific about measuring active ingredients[see edit] and they are universally incentivized to elevate the charge.

[edit] To clarify, I mean that the law does not say specifically to weigh only the active ingredients. In fact it's the opposite.

Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#85

Post by cjsawyer »

luckylion wrote: post #64
cle wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not when you include the blotter paper in the weight, which is what police often do, in that case it'd likely be <10 doses.

But do the judges also include the blotter paper?

I’ve heard of cases where they use the pots and soil in weighing marijuana. The paper seems like it would be included.

Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#86

Post by qppo »

CydeWeys wrote: post #76
qppo wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> some might consider corporate espionage I don't know about "consider," he plead guilty to theft of trade secrets and was charged with crimes defined by the Economic Espionage Act. But I think most engineers don't know that stealing IP from your former employer is a federal crime punishable up to 10 years.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Almost all engineers should at least know that doing so is wrong . And this guy was an executive, not just an engineer.

I'm not suggesting that it's an excuse or that engineers don't know it's wrong, just that I'm guessing most of them don't know they can go to jail for pulling this shit.

It's kind of like what happened with Aaron Schwartz (where the ethics of what he did might be more debatable than Levandowski). I don't think either of these smart people realized what they were doing could put them in prison.

Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#87

Post by ensignavenger »

cle wrote: post #63
wjn0 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> possession of 12 grams of LSD Reader's note: that's between 50k and 100k doses. Not that I disagree with your point.

Not when you include the blotter paper in the weight, which is what police often do, in that case it'd likely be <10 doses.

According to the below linked case, 5.7 grams, including th e paper, was 1,000 doses. So 12 grams probably closer to 2,000 doses, depending on the weight of the paper. (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/500/453/)

Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#88

Post by HumblyTossed »

macspoofing wrote: post #30
raiyu wrote: post #23

White collar crime vs blue collar crime. White collar crime steal $179MM of assets and get 27 months of home arrest. Blue collar crime rob a bank to steal $10,000 and spend 10 years in prison.

Non-violent vs violent crime. There is a difference.

If I work for a bank IT department and I siphon off a bit of money from tens of thousands of accounts. How long will I get in prison?

Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#89

Post by frank2 »

raiyu wrote: post #23

White collar crime vs blue collar crime. White collar crime steal $179MM of assets and get 27 months of home arrest. Blue collar crime rob a bank to steal $10,000 and spend 10 years in prison.

>get 27 months of home arrest

The only mention of home confinement in the OP is what the defense is asking for. The prosecution is asking for 27 months of imprisonment.

Re: U.S. prosecutors seek 27 months imprisonment for former Uber self-driving head

#90

Post by jonathanjaeger »

raiyu wrote: post #39
jonathanjaeger wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this is a fair point (due to the difference in money), there is something to be said about the trauma imposed on people who are witness to a bank robbery, not to mention the potential lives hurt/lost if things go sour. I'm not saying in your above example that the 27mo and 10yr sentences should be shorter or longer, I'm just noting that there are reasons the two aren't equal.

Fair point, but the penalties for white collar crime are still very lax even when "everyday" people are affected. Look at the last recession which led to many "average" american families losing their homes. That wasn't possible without fraud especially the ratings agencies that were giving out false ratings and still no one went to prison.

Yes I agree with you there. There are a whole host of blue collar crimes that have too high a penalty as well. I'm not saying don't change the sentences. Just noting the difference. I personally tried to convince multiple people that insider trading should be illegal and prosecuted (example of white collar crime that is hard to pinpoint someone who suffers directly). Between libertarian-minded people and very left-wing people, it's hard to convince some people I know that want to eliminate prisons (left) or regulations (libertarians), that we should be handing out penalties for certain things, let alone stiffer penalties. Prosecute fraud? I'm with you on that!
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