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3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]

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Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]

#91

Post by marvin »

dalke wrote: post #22
examancer wrote: post #14

I 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.

I prefer the direct link. The document isn't dense. I found it pretty straight-forward, actually. It isn't short, but unless you are a member of the "tl;dr" contingent, the gist is pretty easy to discern. The trick is that things like "Count one charged Auernheimer with conspiracy to violate CFAA § 1030(a)(2)(C) and (c)(2)(B)(ii)" translate to "Count one charged Auernheimer for breaking a law" and things like "See Pe…

I don't even know who weev is, much less that he was convicted for something, when this happened and why. A tl;dr would be much preferable to reading the court documents with no context.

Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]

#92

Post by Sanddancer »

ryandrake wrote: post #88
amitparikh wrote: post #39

I find it fascinating that the precedent for the decision -- to vacate charges due to improper venue -- is established by the court by going all the way back to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The proper place of colonial trials was so important to the founding generation that it was listed as a grievance in the Declaration of Independence. See The Declaration of Independence para. 21 (U.S. 1776…

How does this square with the jurisdiction shopping that patent trolls do, to their great advantage. Somehow, everyone who infringes on a patent does so while in the eastern district of Texas?

Most of the patent trolling companies set up a division or the like in eastern Texas in order to establish venue.

Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]

#94

Post by jmathai »

beambot wrote: post #87
aroch wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

A percentage !? That doesn't even come close. Perhaps a multiple is more fitting.

1000%

Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]

#95

Post by peejaybee »

tptacek wrote: post #2

The 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…

In fact, the specifics of NJ state computer crime law might have been the reasons prosecutors stretched venue so much to get the case located there.

This might be the understatement of the year :)

Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]

#96

Post by aidenn0 »

geuis wrote: post #50

So I just finished reading the judgement. The one point that is unclear to me is the charge of violating the CFAA. The secondary charge related to NJ is thoroughly debunked and is the basis of the vacated judgment. But since the CFAA is a federal statute, isn't venue irrelevant since all venues in the case are in the US? Is this an instance where, now having been vacated on the basis of venue, weev can't be retried w…

IANAL, but:

1) It's only a felony if the secondary charge is allowed

2) They can retry this if they want, since the judgement was vacated, weev was not acquited or convicted. My understanding is that so long as there weren't certain kinds of prosecutorial misconduct (e.g. the prosecutor intentionally caused a mistrial so they could start over).

3) That being said, retrials are fairly rare, since it's expensive and it tends to look bad for the prosecutors.

Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]

#97

Post by aroch »

beambot wrote: post #87
aroch wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

A percentage !? That doesn't even come close. Perhaps a multiple is more fitting.

A percentage is better than nothing, last time I was curious and looked it was 60-70% of your expected earning up to a max (120K/year IIRC) in my state. You can either take the `deal` so to speak or go to court for your compensation

Re: 3rd Circuit vacates Weev's conviction [pdf]

#98

Post by septerr »

300bps wrote: post #48
tptacek wrote: post #2

The 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…

The rationale was that some of the addresses disclosed belonged to NJ residents. I guess he should be tried in every state and several other countries then to account for the 114,000 people that were part of the list. Reading the appellate ruling, U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton's decisions make her seem like she's off her rocker. Beyond that, it's amazing how he was treated in court by the judge: As [the prosecut…

The sentencing blows my mind too. Like you said, the information was out there for anyone to see.
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