Power to the people.
3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
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Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
#72Does weev get any compensation? I get that he's now retroactively never been convicted of a felony, but he was in prison focused on protecting his corn bread for a couple years. Clearly this affects his employability, as well as his general happiness, having been deprived of both liberty and safe corn bread for a while. Civil suit against ATT? Wrongful prosecution against the feds?
He has it made, expect a multimillion settlement on the dime of the US taxpayer.
Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
#73Does weev get any compensation? I get that he's now retroactively never been convicted of a felony, but he was in prison focused on protecting his corn bread for a couple years. Clearly this affects his employability, as well as his general happiness, having been deprived of both liberty and safe corn bread for a while. Civil suit against ATT? Wrongful prosecution against the feds?
After reading the judgement, seems like the right decision was made to overturn the conviction based on venue. But compensation? Come on. He would still be convicted of some of the computer hacking charges in other states. Didn't his co-accused plead guilty to those charges? What happens to him?
"He would still be convicted of some of the computer hacking charges in other states."
That's hardly a sure bet. The prosecutors would have to convince a completely different jury that a crime had been committed, and that different group of jurors could be far more skeptical.
Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
#74Full dockets and documents here:
Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
#75It's important to understand here that the judgment was not vacated on grounds that had anything to do with the crime charged -- the Court didn't conclude that he wasn't guilty. Instead, it was vacated for lack of venue. In other words, he got off on a technicality.
> the Court didn't conclude that he wasn't guilty
Part of their justification for vacating based on venue was that a proper venue very likely would have resulted in different charges or verdict.
Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
After reading the judgement, seems like the right decision was made to overturn the conviction based on venue. But compensation? Come on. He would still be convicted of some of the computer hacking charges in other states. Didn't his co-accused plead guilty to those charges? What happens to him?
Personally I think that everyone who ever has a conviction overturned should be compensated for all time lost and costs incurred. Not because the state would be dissuaded from pushing edge-cases but because we, the people, have robbed someone of part of their life. We should make it right.
This wasn't just an overturned verdict, this was a vacation due to process which is different.
Most states offer compensation packages to those wrongly incarcerated. Its usually a percentage of your expected income if you hadn't been put in jail
Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
#77Can someone tell me why they decided to try him in New Jersey in the first place? I understand some of the addresses were in NJ, but that seems like a weak reason. Is there something about NJ computer crime statute that they thought would help the case over other states?
It's less that US decided to try him in New Jersey, and more that the prosecutors who wanted to try him were in New Jersey. If the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas had wanted a crack at this case, it would not have ended up in NJ. [Edit] To be clear, there is nothing unique about the New Jersey statute that was used as a sentencing enhancement. As many states do, Arkansas has a similar statute - A.C.A…
Makes you wonder if might have a friend at AT&T...
Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
#78I appreciate the HN desire to link to the source, but as I reader I'd really appreciate submitters link to a good summary/analysis for dense subject matter such as court documents or scientific papers. Ideally they'd chose a summary that itself links to the source.
Forget summarizing the source. How about just explaining who weev is?
Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
#79What I find disturbing: a person brought a piece of news to Gawker. Gawker publishes data then wipes hands clean of almost all coverage while said person sits in jail http://gawker.com/tag/weev
Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]
#80The Appeals Court acknowledged that there were lots of issues at play in the appeal, but that they only had to judge one of them to vacate the conviction. The prosecutors selected New Jersey as the venue for the case, despite the fact that Aurnheimer and his co-conspirators hadn't been located in NJ, and AT&T's servers weren't in NJ. The rationale was that some of the addresses disclosed belonged to NJ residents. Not…
Suits them well. Prosecutors try to abuse their power too much sometimes, especially when they selectively try to "make an example" out of someone. Glad the Appeals Court put them in their place this time.
As usual, of course, there are no adverse consequences whatsoever for the prosecutors. They can screw up as often as they like, and as long as their screwups put people in jail they're golden.
Must be nice to have a job with no accountability. I wonder what that's like.