Aaron Schwartz incident is the reason why Scott Brown was able to serve in the US Senate for

[NPolitics1979]

last two years.
Martha Coakley and Carmen Ortiz were and are arrogant overzealous self righteous prosecutors that aggressively prosecuted and sought the maximum prison sentence against people who commit crimes such as shoplifting.
We need to pass a law requiring the lawyer of the target of the investigation to be present during the grand jury investigation and be allowed to impeach prosecution witnesses. We need to send former criminal defense lawyers instead of former prosecutors to the bench.

[Berlum]

1. Aha. There you have it. Thumbs down, Martha, thumbs down...

[LiberalFighter]

5. There is something wrong with her thumb.

Which probably reflects on something wrong with her. She must be defective.

[bluestateguy]

2. That may be

but she also was a babbling nincompoop of a candidate.

[DonViejo]

3. Ortiz, apparently today, released this statement...

-snip-

After expressing her sympathies, U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said in a statement that her office had behaved appropriately and had sought a far more lenient sentence:

The prosecutors recognized that there was no evidence against Mr. Swartz indicating that he committed his acts for personal financial gain, and they recognized that his conduct – while a violation of the law – did not warrant the severe punishments authorized by Congress and called for by the Sentencing Guidelines in appropriate cases. That is why in the discussions with his counsel about a resolution of the case this office sought an appropriate sentence that matched the alleged conduct – a sentence that we would recommend to the judge of six months in a low security setting. While at the same time, his defense counsel would have been free to recommend a sentence of probation. Ultimately, any sentence imposed would have been up to the judge. At no time did this office ever seek – or ever tell Mr. Swartz’s attorneys that it intended to seek – maximum penalties under the law.

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/17/embattled_swartz_prosecutor_breaks_silence/

[backscatter712]

9. And Ortiz is a lying piece of shit.

She was threatening to have Swartz locked up for decades to coerce him into a plea bargain.

[DonViejo]

10. I haven't been following the story...

do you have links to some information that would help me to see how you came to this conclusion?

[backscatter712]

11. Here's some info.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/18/1180031/-Carmen-Ortiz-s-Shameful-Press-Release

It has the text of Ortiz's latest press release, plus other info, such as earlier releases from her office that contradict that press release.

[DonViejo]

12. Cool. Thanks, backscatter. nt

[backscatter712]

13. No problem. n/t

[jerseyjack]

4. Her whiney response still doesn't justify the charges in the first place.

Fuck her.

[BlueDemKev]

6. Most defense lawyers...

...are former prosecutors. Yeah, I feel that judges should have experienced being on both sides before wearing a robe.

[karynnj]

7. Many good politicians were once prosecutors

You could argue that the skills needed to be a good prosecutor are closer to governing than the skills of a trial lawyer. (You could say the skill of the best trial lawyers make them skillful politicians as the same ability to get juries to believe can work with voters.

John Kerry was both - and from his comments and his biography, though he was exceptionally successful at both - he speaks more of being a prosecutor and speaks of things he did then that genuinely helped people.

[NPolitics1979]

8. I agree that good politicians were once prosecutors.

But there are two types of prosecutors.
Prosecutors who would ask for concurrent maximum sentence and Prosecutors that ask for a consecutive maximum sentence for a defendant convicted of a crime.
The latter prosecutor believes in the ends justify the means mentality, care more about giving the accused a maximum sentence-guilty or not guilty in order to convince the public that they are tough on crime.