Re:Facebook fugitive attached GPS monitor to a “motorized co...
by tptacek on Saturday March 14, 2015 @09:45AM
(#9202586)
Did you read her whole post? The hypothetical you're referring to is preceded by a paragraph that ends with "But Aaron could easily have come out to over a year in his guideline calculation" in the case where he went to trial and was found guilty.
As for Aaron Swartz's attorneys, they would have jumped at the chance for probation. They explicitly offered it as a deal to the Feds, who rejected it. Prosecutors held out for a felony plea and prison time: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/15/aaron-swart...
So because of the combination of federal overcriminalization (thank you, Congress) and prosecutorial overzealousness (thank you, Carmen Ortiz), this is what Aaron had to look forward to:
If he plead guilty to a felony, he could have been sentenced to as many as 5 years... Each additional conviction would increase the cap by 5 years, though the guidelines calculation would remain the same. No wonder he didn't want to plead to 13 felonies. Also, Aaron would have had to swear under oath that he committed a crime, something he did not actually believe. http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2013/01/towards-learning-l...