[kh1411]

I was also disappointed with the Part 2 review Orin Kerr posted. This post by James Boyle touches on areas that should've had more consideration by the prosecutors. When I encountered this next article(excerpt below) on Jan18th, it became obvious, how Ortiz's office used Aaron for their own publicity and name making:

"Last Friday, on the same day that Swartz hanged himself in his Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment, prosecutors from Ortiz’s office stood in a Boston courtroom and allowed a former state representative named ­Stephen “Stat” Smith to plead guilty to a misdemeanor for rigging absentee ballots in three elections. Swartz’s lawyers asked for the same consideration, that Swartz be allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor. Prosecutors refused.

So, given that Ortiz will not explain herself, we’ll just have to presume she believes that illegally manipulating the outcome of elections, which are the essence of our democracy, is less serious an ­offense than downloading an online archive of obscure academic articles." (Excerpt fm article by Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe). http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/01/18/taking-heat/L1rfSF47...

[sociotech]

I don't know anything about the Smith case, and I am not saying you (and Cullen) are wrong to draw the comparison and ask questions about it.

However, it is very difficult to make this kind of backseat-driver judgment. I'm not arguing that people shouldn't look into it. They should. But different cases are often treated very differently. Perhaps Smith's case would have been harder to prove to a jury. Perhaps he had better procedural objections. It doesn't just come down to how bad anyone thinks the crime is.

[kh1411]

At least we seem to agree her office should be investigated as to how they handled the case. It's not acceptable to me that they just be allowed to slither away by issuing a press release absolving themselves. My point is his 'alleged' crime was less offensive to the public good, and a misdemeanor conviction in Aaron's case should've met the prosecutors need for a 'crime' such as this (which was nowhere near as offensive as ballot rigging). Why insist on guilty plea to 13 felony counts unless you are being a hardass &trying to build a name for yourself?