>under Massachusetts law, the potential sentence that Swartz faced was more than the maximum sentence given to a rapist who has subdued his victim with a threat of physical force, namely 20 years. If a firearm is added to the mix, but if the victim is not subjected to “serious bodily injury,” then the rapist can receive a maximum of 20 + 10, or 30 years.
> The government indicated it might only seek seven years at trial, and was willing to bargain that down to six to eight months in exchange for a guilty plea, a person familiar with the matter said. But Mr. Swartz didn't want to do jail time.
I was just pointing out he had options. He could either accept 6-8 months or risk longer jail time in favor of getting found not guilty. He chose suicide.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 24.1 ms ] threadhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732458150457823...
Even six to eight months sounds excessive for what he was accused of doing (although it was wrong and some charge may have been reasonable).
And it would be one thing to accept guilt for unauthorized use of a computer and another to plead guilty to a $5M wire fraud.