Brits order extradition for hacker, his mom is hysterical at the thought

Guardian:

There were emotional scenes outside the high court today after computer hacker Gary McKinnon lost a further attempt to avoid his extradition to America on charges of breaching US military and Nasa computers.

McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, would suffer from a "severe mental breakdown" if forced to serve up to 60 years in an American jail, his mother, Janis Sharp, said, pleading with politicians to intervene.

"Why aren't they stopping the extradition of a man who is clearly vulnerable and who on the accepted evidence suffers from Asperger's?" Sharp said. "Gary is clearly someone who is not equipped to deal with the American penal system and there is clear evidence that he will suffer a severe mental breakdown if extradited."

In a judgment Sharp described as "heartbreaking", the court refused McKinnon's request that the home secretary, Alan Johnson, should be forced to reconsider the case, describing the extradition as "a lawful and proportionate response".

Lawyers for the 43-year-old, who have already announced they will appeal against the decision, said they were encouraged by a display of sympathy for McKinnon in the judgment, which acknowledged expert evidence of a "high risk of serious deterioration in his mental health and a risk of suicide".

"I have no doubt that he will find extradition to, and trial and sentence and detention in, the US very difficult indeed," said Lord Justice Stanley Burnton. "His mental health will suffer. There are risks of worse, including suicide."

...

Well, he does have to be tried in the US before he can be sentenced and detained even if he is clearly guilty which has apparently been established during the course of years of extradition hearings. I guess I can understand his mom being emotional about the order, but many in the UK including the media seem to think he is being sentenced to a Russian gulag. It is time for these people to get a grip.

Comments

  1. Some of you people are clearly unable to read. You say that McKinnon admitted to the things the Americans say he did. False. False. False. The Americans claim he disabled a warship. As Americans believe in Guilty Until Proven Innocent and love their rogue prosecutors piling up charges, punishing people for exercising their rights, forcing guilty pleas from innocent people, and of course people who post as experts to tell lies to get people executed are never punished for that, I can guarantee that if a man in uniform showed up before a jury and claimed that he disabled the warship, they'd lap it up...particularly as they probably work in some way for the Pentagon, as they plan to hold the trial in a Defence Department-heavy district.

    The U.S. system is one that values 100% conviction rates as the ideal... it's one that has imprisoned the most people in the whole world. It's one where prosecutors are known to go up to people in prison and offer to people to testify against people they don't even know, in return for reduced sentences... and these prosecutors get away with such things always.

    Now, many in Britain say that McKinnon will be treated fairly because the Natwest Three were... they were extradited under this horrible, one-sided treaty and they said they'd be treated unfairly and of course they got it easy. They got it easy because the British government intervened for them and got bail for them... they are not doing this for McKinnon. This can be explained... The Natwest Three were bankers...

    Remember that under the extradition treaty the Americans do not need to provide proof that their claims against an individual are true... they just have to say that they want said individual, unlike the British who have to provide some proof to the Americans that their target did the things claimed...

    As for the Russian gulag comment, you are probably unaware of the reality of the Supermax... ever since the invention of LWOPP and the new "throw away the key" mentality, they can no longer offer real incentives to much of the prisoner population to behave. So they built these horrible supermax prisons that put the prisoners in permanent isolation... would be considered torture in most jurisdictions, are known to make people go mad. The Americans have suggested that they plan such a place for Mr. McKinnon...

    The Americans also waited until the new extradition treaty was signed before asking for McKinnon's extradition... what sneaks... They could have asked for him in 2002 or 2003... no... they asked in 2004. Along the way the British courts have admitted that the Americans have acted in bad faith, as jerks, but they always say that it's just not sufficient to block the machinery of extradition... probably the political pressure was such in the name of the Special Relationship that American misbehaviour always just missed being sufficient for a ruling against them.

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  2. The American Legal system acting like jerks - i'd hardly doubt that, but then again wouldn't you feel violated to the point of making an example of someone who broke into your home that supposedly has an impervious alarm system, roots around and when caught, then claims to have a reason NOT to go to jail ? C'mon. He broke the law, plain and simple. Aspberger's or not, give him a light sentence and be done with it. Do the crime, do the time.

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