

Trial opens for hacker/sysadmin who allegedly locked out SF city officials  - anigbrowl
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/14/BAMU1B45AU.DTL&tsp=1

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jsz0
The issue of his bail ($5M) and the long lead time for a trial is ridiculous.
American citizens are supposed to have the right to a speedy public trial.
From what I've read his past criminal record had little or no effect on the
bail figure. It seems kind of obvious that in this respect the legal system is
designed to punish the poor and middle class and give the wealthy special
rights. If Mr. Childs was a wealthy man he could have paid the $5M and been
free 18 months ago. That is simply not fair.

That being said the way Mr. Childs handled this situation is equally as
ridiculous. I have no sympathy for him based on the facts I've read about his
withholding of information, hostility towards co-workers, and ego-manic view
of network security, his inability to follow direct orders from supervisors,
refusal to comply with city wide policies, etc. In my opinion he clearly
deserved to get fired. The remaining charge, denial of service, seems
reasonable enough and worthy of going to trial. No one is disputing that he
withheld information so it's all about intent and that's something a jury
should decide.

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guelo
The news here is that our "justice" system can throw you in jail without a
trial for a year and half for a crime that resulted in no damage to anyone and
not even a loss of data.

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houseabsolute
Well, besides the damage of not having access to the computer system. It's not
as sensational as you make it sound. For example, an armed robber occupying
your house for an evening who leaves with nothing and does not shoot or stab
anyone can similarly be described, but he also would not escape the
consequences of his actions.

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dantheman
1.5 years in jail without a trail is a travesty.

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houseabsolute
Yes, but who caused it? As far as I understand trials normally follow
accusations rapidly unless one side or the other spends a lot of the court's
time on legal motions. Unless you're prepared to present evidence that the
prosecution was the cause of substantially all of this delay, you have no
grounds on which to complain about the handling of this case.

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anigbrowl
Some background info (this is about the best coverage of the whole episode in
a single story): [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/27/...](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/27/MND011UVRJ.DTL)

