The government killed Aaron Swartz.

I often have wondered why I hear about a crime and then hear about 15 felonies being charged for the SAME crime. It doesn't make sense and is probably the reason along with the misguided "war on drugs" we have such an over bloated and non sustainable prison system here in the US.

For a free country to have a larger prison population that most of the rest of the world should tell you something about how justice is doled out here in America. When a "cyber" criminal who stole files from a computer is looking at more hard time than a rapist or murderer, you don't really have to stretch your imagination to realize something is wrong.

The case of computer whiz Aaron Swartz -- who committed suicide after federal prosecutors charged him with 13 felony fraud counts -- has become, for some, emblematic of how overzealous prosecutors are going too far in pursuit of a win.

Committed suicide no doubt because in his view and many others he really didn't do anything horribly wrong. Maybe a fine, probation or 30 days in jail but facing 13 felony counts? Jesus Christ, the prosecutor should be charged with manslaughter in my opinion.

Swartz could have been punished with up to 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines -- a greater penalty than some murderers face. And it was all for downloading millions of academic documents that were available at the M.I.T. Library for a small fee.

There you go ATS, that was his big crime, the one the US government was going to and in fact did ruin his life for. Now, knowing this, please explain to me why Eric Holder is not in jail for the rest of his life, explain to me why he is giving speeches about GUN CONTROL! I'm slightly angry..............

In fact, in 2010, the last year for which the data is available, only slightly more than 3 percent of criminal cases in U.S. District Courts went to trial -- a precipitous drop from earlier years which appears to back up Reynolds' concerns.

The same article shows how you get recourse on these bastards. You turn that 3 percent into 95 percent and choke the system until the courts and prosecutors are so backed up and so stressed out that they start doing the SANE thing and start making JUST charges and accepting JUST deals. 3 percent is not enough, they are bored, have too much time on their hands. Start making them work and rein back in the tyranny we are seeing in pathetic lawyers willing to ruin lives to further their tiny egos and sickening little ambitions on being bigger dbags for a corrupt establishment than they currently are.

SOURCE

Well, the thread has been moved to Skunk Works, a forum that is dedicated to wild speculation without having any facts.

I find that strange sense I don't think anyone could argue that Aaron Swartz was a healthy, happy and very successful young man who had everything to live for until a federal prosecutor decided to charge him with multiple felonies equating to 35 years in prison for extremely minor "white collar" crime.

Now, is that wild speculation or is it fact? You tell me.

reply to post by Helious

Four flags, four stars, and no comments. I hate to see that, so I will comment.

Yea, I don't see how it's highly speculative... Just another way of looking at things.

I never did understand that...how you can get numerous charges like that. I thought they usually ran the sentences concurrently though?

Did you know you can get 2 DUI's at one time?

The idea is to charge everything possible, no matter how outlandish, in order to compel a plea bargain. They try to make it appear more serious so they don't go to trial. That would mean more money, time, and most importantly, more actual work.

Originally posted by MidnightSunshine
reply to post by Helious

 

Four flags, four stars, and no comments. I hate to see that, so I will comment.

Yea, I don't see how it's highly speculative... Just another way of looking at things.

I never did understand that...how you can get numerous charges like that. I thought they usually ran the sentences concurrently though?

Did you know you can get 2 DUI's at one time?

It is up to the judge as to if the sentences will run concurrently or not, I'm not sure that would be something I would be comfortable leaving up to one persons discretion when it involves the rest of my natural life.

Yeah, I live in Illinois, everyone that I know who has gotten a DUI (Pretty much everyone I have ever met) gets 2 of them, they are all blown away by it and they will always get a couple supporting tickets to show probable cause for the stop in the first place..... Weaving inside your own lane anyone.......

Everyone talks of violent revolution when all that needs to be done is everyone stating they wan't a jury trial for everything! That way, they are forced to push the real criminals to the front of the line and people who downloaded a few songs from a torrent site never make it to court because of a violation of speedy trial.

The rest of the non crimes, as in, blatantly obvious unconstitutional laws and crimes that have no victim by and large, ones we don't need the supreme court to rule on for us before we claim they unconstitutional can be done away with using Jury nullification. The way to win a revolution is not with guns and it's not through voting, it's through the courts.