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Old 09-18-2008, 09:38 PM   #120
lawyerforliberty
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Default Re: Poor Gary Mckinnon

I am only mildly familar with Gary's legal predicament, but it is my understanding he has been accused of hacking into secured US government and/or quasi-governmental computers alledgedly in violation of federal law.

I suspect that he will eventually plea to the charges and spend sometime in a federal prison, before being send back to the UK, after they have made a sufficient example of him. The vast majority of all criminal and civil cases resolve by pleas and settlements--80 to 90% or so of all cases end this way.

In the relatively unlikely event that he does go to trial, I doubt very much that the court will permit any evidence of the contents of the computers and the substance of what Gary claims to have found to be admitted into evidence. Indeed, before trial the prosecution will most likely obtain an order from the judge excluding any such evidence on the ground that it is irrelevant. They will do this by way of a motion in limne. Such a motion is filed by litigants asking the court to exclude evidence that is irrelevant, immaterial, cumulative, or unduly prejudicial in the sense that it appeals to passion, prejudice and bias, rather than sense and reason.

I have not looked at the laws under which he is charged, but I will bet you that the "crimes" he is charged with committing are committed by the act of hacking, and in no way is guilt or innocence a function of what you find when you hack. (Think about that for a minute.) Thus, what is found will be ruled irrelevant to establish the elements of the crime or any defenses thereto, and the federal judge (his case will be or already is in federal court) will rule that any such evidence is inadmissible.

For that reason no one, including Dan Burich, will be permitted to testify as to what Gary found in the computers nor give any factual testimony or expert opinion as to the truth or falsity of the contents of the computers.

The powers-that-be will, therefore, have no need to keep the media out of the trial, or assert national security, state secrects or some other legal fiction to keep the truth concerning the contents of the computers out of evidence, because the court will not permit the contents or substance of what Gary discovered in the computers into evidence, having determined that it is irrelevant to prove the elements of the crime or to prove Gary's innocence.

I'm sorry folks but, in my humble opinion, Gary's case will not provide the opportunity to prove that the government engages in black ops or is aware of extraterrestrial life forms who are in contact with we mere and mortal Earthlings, any more than the few cases filed by family members of the victims of 9/11 proved that 9/11 was an inside job. Albeit, the reasons the latter cases failed to get to the truth of 9/11 (immunity, failure to state a calim etc...) are different than why Gary's case will fail to get to the truth about alien life forms and visitations or government black ops.

Regards,

Stevan Looney
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