Hacker Andrew Weev Auernheimer admitted that his lawyers were racing to get him out of prison after a circuit judge had vacated his conviction. A self-described online troll and hacker was found guilty 17 months ago in conspiracy to gain illegal access to AT&T public servers after obtaining thousands of email addresses of iPad owners. At the moment, the hacker is serving his 41-month federal prison term in Pennsylvania.
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Recently, the US Court of Appeals threw out his conviction, deciding that New Jersey, where he was tried, was an improper venue for the case. It should be noted that the issue of venue is especially sensitive in computer fraud trials, which by nature transcend physical jurisdictions.
His lawyers are just focused on getting him out at the moment, because he is being held in a special housing unit, which is a 6x11 cell, and they let him get out 1 hour a day.
Andrew Auernheimer was charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act the same statute that was used to prosecute sadly known Aaron Swartz. In the meantime, critics said that the law in question was meant to prosecute larger crimes and its use in hacking cases was an intimidation tactic by the US government.
The hackers attorneys argued at trial that his prosecution under the abovementioned legislation was improper, but still were pleased to see the conviction vacated on venue grounds. They pointed out that if the court had ruled the other way, there would have been universal venue in computer fraud and abuse cases, which would have had huge implications for the Internet and computer legislation in the US.
The hackers lawyers claim they never got a full explanation from the government of why it brought the case in New Jersey. As a result, the circuit court found an absence of any apparent connection to New Jersey, because that at the time of the alleged crime, an alleged accomplice of the defender was in California, while the defender himself was in Arkansas. In addition, the servers they accessed were located in Texas and Georgia. Auernheimers lawyer asked the authorities about venue in one of their first meetings months ago, but they never provided any meaningful response, so the hackers legal team just kept pushing it all the way through trial, and now won an appeal.
Recently, the US Court of Appeals threw out his conviction, deciding that New Jersey, where he was tried, was an improper venue for the case. It should be noted that the issue of venue is especially sensitive in computer fraud trials, which by nature transcend physical jurisdictions.
His lawyers are just focused on getting him out at the moment, because he is being held in a special housing unit, which is a 6x11 cell, and they let him get out 1 hour a day.
Andrew Auernheimer was charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act the same statute that was used to prosecute sadly known Aaron Swartz. In the meantime, critics said that the law in question was meant to prosecute larger crimes and its use in hacking cases was an intimidation tactic by the US government.
The hackers attorneys argued at trial that his prosecution under the abovementioned legislation was improper, but still were pleased to see the conviction vacated on venue grounds. They pointed out that if the court had ruled the other way, there would have been universal venue in computer fraud and abuse cases, which would have had huge implications for the Internet and computer legislation in the US.
The hackers lawyers claim they never got a full explanation from the government of why it brought the case in New Jersey. As a result, the circuit court found an absence of any apparent connection to New Jersey, because that at the time of the alleged crime, an alleged accomplice of the defender was in California, while the defender himself was in Arkansas. In addition, the servers they accessed were located in Texas and Georgia. Auernheimers lawyer asked the authorities about venue in one of their first meetings months ago, but they never provided any meaningful response, so the hackers legal team just kept pushing it all the way through trial, and now won an appeal.