DOJ Admits It Had To Put Aaron Swartz In Jail To Save Face Over The Arrest

[The Straight Story]

DOJ Admits It Had To Put Aaron Swartz In Jail To Save Face Over The Arrest


As the Congressional investigation into the DOJ's prosecution of Aaron Swartz has continued, apparently a DOJ representative has admitted that part of the reason it insisted on having Swartz plead guilty to a felony and go to jail, no matter what, was that it feared the public backlash for the original arrest if they couldn't then show a felony conviction and jailtime. According to a Huffington Post article, quoting various sources:

Some congressional staffers left the briefing with the impression that prosecutors believed they needed to convict Swartz of a felony that would put him in jail for a short sentence in order to justify bringing the charges in the first place, according to two aides with knowledge of the briefing.

The odd thing is this little tidbit comes at the very, very end of a longer article, most of which focuses on the DOJ telling Congressional staffers that part of the reason they went after Swartz with such zeal was because of his infamous Guerilla Open Access Manifesto. That might explain why they were so eager to arrest him, but it seems like the much bigger deal, considering all the concern about prosecutor discretion, that after they arrested him, they then didn't want to look bad, which is why they continued to demand jailtime and felony convictions.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130223/02284022080/doj-admits-it-had-to-put-aaron-swartz-jail-to-save-face-over-arrest.shtml

[rusty fender]

1. Fuckwads

These DOJ officials need to go to jail.

[EOTE]

2. Then lots of people here owe his family a huge apology.

Those worthless POSs who said over and over "You shouldn't do the crime if you can't do the time." while being completely unable to note what crime he committed. The authoritarians on this site utterly sicken me.

[EastKYLiberal]

4. Yes, I believe 100% in the free flow of information.

And am against all efforts to obstruct it.

The information that society produces should have no "owners," as one work is derivative of another.

Anyone that wishes should be able to access that work and expand upon it or use it to expand their mind.

[frylock]

3. worst fucking department of justice ever..

and that includes Ashcroft's. what a damn joke. Holder should go harass some MMJ dispensaries to make up for it.

[phantom power]

5. If they wanted to look good, they could prosecute some goddamned banksters

But I'm sure it's much more politically convenient to go after Schwartz, or Armstrong.

[progressoid]

6. Fucking pathetic.

[MynameisBlarney]

7. That is completely backward.

The complete opposite of what they're supposed to do. IMHO anyway.

[SCVDem]

8. Please continue busting

On line poker players and pot smokers too.

More dangers to society!

Did I forget prostitution?

Where are the tucking priorities?

[MotherPetrie]

9. Evil fuckers -- and let's all remember whom the shitty AG answers to

[raging moderate]

10. DOJ Personnel: Can you learn, change, and grow?

As of this writing, DOJ personnel must realize that they have caused the death of a US citizen who had done no wrong to anybody. When my children were teenagers, we saw somebody on TV complaining because he had been arrested for causing somebody to be killed by a car by chasing him with a baseball bat. I turned to my children and said, "Yes, if you chase somebody with a baseball bat and he runs in front of a car and is killed, then it is your fault and you have caused his death." I say now to DOJ personnel, "If you hound a young man toward a prison sentence for online activity so close to what all of his peers are doing, when his actions did not show criminal intent, then it is your fault if he panics and kills himself." Poor Aaron Swartz! It must have felt like he was trapped in a nightmare from which he couldn't wake up.