←back to thread

Teen behind hundreds of swatting attacks pleads guilty to federal charges

(www.wired.com)
242 points LinuxBender | 3 comments | 18 Nov 24 00:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
Show context
tomcam ◴[18 Nov 24 01:28 UTC] No.42168915[source]▶
Not sure why swatting isn’t treated like attempted murder
replies(3): >>42168931 #>>42169121 #>>42173819 #
drexlspivey ◴[18 Nov 24 02:14 UTC] No.42169121[source]▶
Well he is facing 20 years
replies(4): >>42169148 #>>42169327 #>>42172094 #>>42172611 #
tptacek ◴[18 Nov 24 02:54 UTC] No.42169327[source]▶
He's probably not facing anything resembling 20 years. Charged as an adult under the fact patterns we know about, I get something like 15 years. But he's being charged as a juvenile.
replies(2): >>42172681 #>>42174395 #
PittleyDunkin ◴[18 Nov 24 14:42 UTC] No.42172681[source]▶
It seems like he was a child when he made most of these calls.

Regardless, this is unlikely to be much of a deterrent. The police need to be held accountable at some point.

replies(1): >>42176045 #
tptacek ◴[18 Nov 24 19:35 UTC] No.42176045[source]▶
The police didn't hurt anybody in this case, despite this person's attempt to make them do so. What are you holding them accountable for?
replies(2): >>42179459 #>>42184827 #
1. otterley ◴[19 Nov 24 15:53 UTC] No.42184827{3}[source]▶
In criminal law, attempted crime is treated the same as successful completions. That’s because we don’t want to encourage people to make attempts: many such attempts could be successful.

Imagine a world in which someone is trying to murder you or your children. You know who they are, and you even have incontrovertible evidence they are doing it. Yet they get off scot-free every time because their bullets missed the mark.

(This is covered in the mandatory first-year criminal law course in law school, BTW.)

replies(1): >>42188719 #
2. tptacek ◴[19 Nov 24 22:20 UTC] No.42188719[source]▶
Yes, I agree. The SWAT-ter attempted to kill people. The police did not. I'm not sticking up for the accused; I'm saying the facile "this is a police problem" argument doesn't apply in this story.
replies(1): >>42189033 #
3. ◴[19 Nov 24 23:07 UTC] No.42189033[source]▶