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March 7, 2013

Holder Defends Prosecution of Internet Freedom Activist Aaron Swartz 
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During his testimony, Attorney General Eric Holder also publicly
defended the federal prosecution of Aaron Swartz, the Internet freedom
activist who took his own life in January. Swartz was weeks before a
trial date for downloading millions of articles provided by the
nonprofit research service JSTOR. He was facing 35 years in prison, a
penalty supporters called excessively harsh. Appearing before the Senate
Judiciary Committee, Holder told Republican Senator John Cornyn he
thinks prosecutors acted appropriately.

Eric Holder: "There was never an intention for him to go to jail for
longer than a three-, four-, potentially five-month range. That was what
the government said specifically to Mr. Swartz. Those — those
offers were rejected."

Sen. John Cornyn: "Does it strike you as odd that the government would
indict someone for crimes that would carry penalties of up to 35 years
in prison and million-dollar fines and then offer him a three- or
four-month prison sentence?"

Eric Holder: "Well, I think that's a good use of prosecutorial
discretion to look at the conduct, regardless of what the statutory
maximums were, and to fashion a sentence that was consistent with what
the nature of the conduct was. And I think that what those prosecutors
did in offering three, four, zero to six was consistent with that
conduct."

Sen. John Cornyn: "So you don't consider this a case of prosecutorial
overreach or misconduct?"

Eric Holder: "No, I don't look at what necessarily was charged as much
as what was offered in terms of how the case might have been resolved."

Holder's comments were his most extensive on the Swartz case to date. In
response, Sen. Cornyn told Holder he thinks Swartz was unfairly
targeted.

Sen. John Cornyn: "I would suggest to you if you're an individual
American citizen and you’re looking at criminal charges being brought
by the United States government, with all of the vast resources
available to the government, it strikes me as disproportionate and one
that is basically being used inappropriately to try to bully someone
into pleading guilty to something that strikes me as rather minor."

 

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