zlacker

'In 2011, Swartz was arrested by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police on state breaking-and-entering charges, after connecting a computer to the MIT network in an unmarked and unlocked closet, and setting it to download academic journal articles systematically from JSTOR using a guest user account issued to him by MIT.[13][14] Federal prosecutors, led by Carmen Ortiz, later charged him with two counts of wire fraud and eleven violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,[15] carrying a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution, and supervised release.[16] Swartz declined a plea bargain under which he would have served six months in federal prison.[17] Two days after the prosecution rejected a counter-offer by Swartz, he was found dead by suicide in his Brooklyn apartment.[18][19] In 2013, Swartz was inducted posthumously into the Internet Hall of Fame.[20]'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

>>sdento+(OP)
Yeah, Swartz's liability has been wildly misreported. He faced nothing resembling 35 years, as the prosecutors themselves acknowledged during the dispute. His own lawyer believed he was unlikely to face custodial time even if convicted given the guidelines for the charges. This has been discussed ad nauseam on HN and I'll spare you a repeat of it; the search bar will avail.

>>tptace+47
But that's exactly the coercion, laid plain. It /doesn't matter/ that the prosecutors don't believe they'll get the full sentence. They want to paint as dire a picture as possible to get the defendant to take the plea.

>>sdento+Nm3
No, I don't think you're following what I'm saying. The prosecutors were explicit about the sentence they were actually seeking, and that sentence was itself far outside what the guidelines suggest he would have gotten. The DOJ did not in fact threaten Swartz with 35 years in prison.