MIT
re...@ecn.ab.ca
The sentencing hearing for convicted cracker Kevin Mitnick was postponed for a
fourth time Monday and rescheduled for 9 August.
US District Judge Marianne Pfaelzer issued a continuance because of scheduling
conflicts, according to a court clerk.
Mitnick pleaded guilty on 26 March to five counts of a 25-count federal
indictment and two related counts from a Northern California indictment. His
plea agreement resulted in a 54-month prison sentence, making Mitnick eligible
to be released into a halfway house pending Pfaelzer's approval and permission
from the State of California.
A pattern of delays has plagued the case from its onset. What remains to be
determined in Mitnick's sentencing is the judgment for restitution which
Pfaelzer has made clear she will issue. The government contends that Mitnick
should be forced to repay US$1.5 million dollars in damages to the victim
companies.
In the pre-sentence investigation report, Mitnick's attorneys said their client
is unable to pay anywhere near that amount and should only be required to repay
about $5,000.
Mitnick had already spent more than four years behind bars at the Los Angeles
Metropolitan Detention Center.
At the original hearing in March, sentencing was delayed until 14 June. That
hearing was again continued to 12 July, when attorneys were unable to reach an
agreement about the terms of restitution. The judge was unprepared to rule, due
to a last minute filing by the government to which the defense was unprepared to
respond.
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Graham-John Bullers
moderator of alt.2600.moderated
email : re...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca | ab...@freenet.toronto.on.ca