[free-sklyarov] Protest on Monday, another place?

[Alex McMullin]

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	You made a good point with "In the People's Interest". IANAL but,
did go to law school for a couple of years. As I recall, US vs.
Sklyarov is NOT the US Government, but the US People. So, how do we,
the people, tell "our" attorney (The US Attorney's office) that we
DON'T want to press charges? I think that with the protests, we are
letting them know, but, what else (I know, contact the media, flyers,
pamphlets....) can we DO, in this immediate situation IN the legal
system? I remember studying Amicus Curiae Briefs (Friend of the Court
informative briefs), but, I don't know that they are filed before the
appellate level. Is there anyone on this list who knows of a
pre-trial brief/motion that could be filed on behalf of the people,
but from a third party (since our "legal representative" isn't
following our requests), requesting that this case be dropped as it
is **NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST** nor is it a desire of, the people
whom are being represented by the prosecution? I was also wondering,
how far fetched is the idea of something like a Request for Writ of
Prohibition being filed? In such a case, we could request, based upon
community interest and details specific to this case, a bar on the US
Attorney's office from pursuing prosecution. (The purpose of writ of
prohibition was in part to bar "bad law" from being prosecuted).
Also, I know approximately when the software was released, but, could
a valid argument be made that the law doesn't apply to this cause
because the software was started PRIOR to the enforcement date of the
DMCA, i.e. if the software was being written prior to the date that
the DMCA went into effect, any prosecution would be a violation of
Expo Facto prosecution laws (grandfathering, an event that was legal
when it was begun cannot be prosecuted if it is a continuing event,
and is later outlawed). I am sure Dmitry's lawyers have enough to
worry about, maybe someone in the EFF could look into this and
develop a generic "Request for Dismissal" type of document that could
be filed by each of us, and a supporting memorandum. I am sure that
if the court gets a couple thousand request for dismissals, along
with the protests and heightened press coverage (I am not going to
stop trying to get ahold of the media until they agree to cover the
Minneapolis protests), they will "advise" the state that they should
withdraw the charges because they are not in the "Public Interest".
(An added bonus may even be that the Legislature will realize that
we, the people, won't back a prosecution brought on our behalf under
DMCA, and they might actually think about a reform).


Alex McMullin
Systems Administrator
(Any email sent by Alex McMullin will be signed with PGP)


- -----Original Message-----
From: free-sklyarov-admin
[mailto:free-sklyarov-admin at zork.net]On Behalf Of Klepht
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 9:43 PM
To: free-sklyarov at zork.net
Subject: Re: [free-sklyarov] Protest on Monday, another place?


>>>>> "MKB" == Mark K Bilbo <mark at blorch.org> writes:

    MKB> If the DoJ believes the law has been broken, they really
have
    MKB> the obligation and duty to prosecute even if half the
country
    MKB> is chanting outside their windows.

This is, happily, completely untrue. If prosecutors feel that they
don't have enough evidence to press a case, or that the "crime"
committed is not in The People's interest to pursue, they can choose
to drop the case. This happens all the time.

I don't have numbers, but I believe the majority of criminal cases do
not actually go all the way to sentencing. (Someone correct me if I'm
wrong.) 

Unless the US Attorney's Office in Northern California is very blind,
they should see by now that this case is weak at best, especially
without the support of the original complainant, Adobe.

Right now, our focus is to convince them to hurry up and drop the
case. Quit dragging their heels, quit making political hay out of
having "taken down" a "cybercriminal," and let Dmitry out of jail.

~Klepht

- -- 
klepht at eleutheria.org
http://www.eleutheria.org/


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