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Comment by EuroCoder | Hacker News Reader

Steve Heymann is a murderer.

No, he's not. At least not in the case of Swarz or James.

What he is is a man who, among with others in the US Prosecutor's office, doesn't appear to have the necessary discretion to identify either appropriate targets for prosecution, nor appropriate measures of justice, which are required for his position.

Which I believe he should forfeit with extreme censure.

So if some girl breaks up with a guy who she knows has depression issues, for some silly reason, does that make her a murderer too? Aaron was responsible for his own actions.

That doesn't make the prosecutors good guys - far from it. But they didn't kill him.

So if some girl or boy with popularity in school verbally threatens me or accuse me of being fat, stupid, a Jew, a religious nut, a christian or atheist or whatever and bullys me into suicide it is not their fault? What Aaron did was great, moral and maybe illegal but that doesn't warrant the 35 years of federal prison. Maybe days.

And before you say anything about the persecutor doin his job the elected Nazi Hitler were just following orderz and the law.

They killed him. And they knew he was at suicide risk. I would end my life rather than going to federal prison until I'm 65 for freeing tax payers research. Federal cases 80% conviction rate.

I hate the game and the players willing to play the game.

If you read what I wrote, I didn't say anything about "fault", as there is plenty to find with the actions of the prosecutors. What I said is that they're not murderers.

Also: Godwin fail.

Why are you mentioning the figure of 35 years? According to the WSJ, the prosecution was planning to push for seven years at trial, and were willing to offer six months in exchange for a guilty plea. It's also my impression that many people end up being released early, so the actual time spent in prison would've been shorter.

You're making it sound like no big deal. Maybe by that time, the damage was done. Anyway, the real issue is the Orwellian pressure tactics used by the state to destroy a relatively powerless individual.

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