Prosecutor defends case against Aaron Swartz

[proverbialwisdom]

14. BOSTON HERALD: Ortiz says suicide will not change handling of cases

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/01/ortiz_says_suicide_will_not_change_handling_cases

Ortiz says suicide will not change handling of cases

January 21, 2013

Chris Cassidy / Boston Herald
Christine McConville / Boston Herald

<>

Ortiz’s spokeswoman, Christina DiIorio-Sterling, said last night the Swartz case won’t affect the office’s handling of other cases. “Absolutely not,” she said. “We thought the case was reasonably handled and we would not have done things differently.

<>

R. Bradford Bailey, a defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said he expects the Swartz case’s uproar to continue.

“It may lead to the U.S. attorney’s office looking at each case on its own merits. It may lead to U.S. 
Attorney General Eric Holder asking them to not look at things in terms of just numbers,” said Bailey, who said he’s been “quite frustrated” by prosecutors’ lack of flexibility. “If it does result in more flexibility and more ability to get outside of the mathematical grid, and an effort to come up with more responsible solutions, in the end, it may be some good coming out of a tragic and unfortunate situation.”

Meanwhile, attorney Daniel Gelb, a former assistant district attorney and a district chairman of the National Association of Criminal 
Defense Lawyers’ White Collar Crime Committee, said the Swartz case illustrates just how much power Ortiz has: “I think this case is a wake-up call with respect to the enormity of the impact a criminal prosecution can have on defendants whose conduct does not necessarily warrant the potential exposure under what can be extremely draconian sentencing guidelines.”

<>