U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz Issues Statement on Aaron Swartz Case
> I must, however, make clear that this office’s conduct was appropriate in bringing and handling this case.<p>That's why you assign investigations to independent entities, and that's why butchers aren't allowed to do their own health inspection.<p>Whether it was appropriate or not is not for Carmen Ortiz to say.<p>"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."<p>Is in direct conflict with Aaron's lawyer's account of the run up to last Saturday as well as other statements issued earlier, she may come to regret those words if he has documentation to prove his side of the story.<p>Aaron's lawyer claims they were threatening just the opposite if he did not take a guilty plea.<p>In particular:<p>"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."<p>Is a falsifiable claim. I'm looking forward to Aaron's lawyers' response to this statement.