Xbox Modding Trial Dismissed 179
It seems the harsh words from District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez on Wednesday had their intended effect; prosecutors in Matthew Crippen's Xbox modding case have now dismissed the indictment. Quoting Wired:
"Witness No. 1, Tony Rosario, was an undercover agent with the Entertainment Software Association. He told jurors Wednesday that he paid Crippen $60 in 2008 to modify an Xbox, and secretly videotaped the operation. Rosario had responded to Crippen’s advertisement on the internet and met Crippen at his Anaheim house. All of that had been laid out in pretrial motions. But during his testimony, Rosario also said Crippen inserted a pirated video game into the console to verify that the hack worked. That was a new detail that helped the government meet an obligation imposed by the judge that very morning, when Gutierrez ruled that the government had to prove Crippen knew he was breaking the law by modding Xboxes. But nowhere in Rosario’s reports or sworn declarations was it mentioned that Crippen put a pirated game into the console. ... [Prosecutor Allen Chiu] conceded he never forwarded that information to the defense."
Re:My question is (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't they have bigger issues/bad guys to take care of than some college student POSSIBLY playing PIRATED VIDEO GAMES?
Drugs, gangs, violence, terrorism, rape, murders...need I go on?
last time I checked the courts and jails were rather full...
Reminds me of the Simpsons X-Files episode:
Mulder: There's been another unsubstantiated UFO sighting in the Heartland of America. We've gotta get there right away.
Scully: Well... gee, Mulder, there's also this report of a shipment of drugs and illegal weapons coming into New Jersey tonight.
Mulder: [scoffs] I hardly think the FBI is concerned with matters like that.
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DreamMaster.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:'Never forwarded that information' (Score:5, Interesting)
>>>the prosecutor did the right thing
Unlikely. I suspect this is the backroom conversation that went on:
PROSECUTOR: "We need to drop this case like a hot potato. We're going to lose and don't want that precedent."
ESASPY: "How?"
PRO: "Tell them you inserted a pirated CD into the Xbox. I can then argue that new information was not shared w/ the defense and serve motion to dismiss this lousy case."
SPY: "But that's a lie. I never put a CD into the modded console."
PRO: "You're point?"
Re:'Never forwarded that information' (Score:4, Interesting)
I bet the fishermen and bakers weren't too happy about it either.
Perhaps, but I believe a few fishermen were actually helping to give out the free food.