<story><title>Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison</title><url>http://boingboing.net/2015/01/22/barrettbrown.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>fnordfnordfnord</author><text>Barrett&amp;#x27;s response to today&amp;#x27;s sentencing:&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;“Good news! — The U.S. government decided today that because I did such a good job investigating the cyber-industrial complex, they’re now going to send me to investigate the prison-industrial complex. For the next 35 months, I’ll be provided with free food, clothes, and housing as I seek to expose wrondgoing by Bureau of Prisons officials and staff and otherwise report on news and culture in the world’s greatest prison system. I want to thank the Department of Justice for having put so much time and energy into advocating on my behalf; rather than holding a grudge against me for the two years of work I put into in bringing attention to a DOJ-linked campaign to harass and discredit journalists like Glenn Greenwald, the agency instead labored tirelessly to ensure that I received this very prestigious assignment. — Wish me luck!”&lt;/i&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison</title><url>http://boingboing.net/2015/01/22/barrettbrown.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>DannyBee</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s hard to know what happened here, because the papers aren&amp;#x27;t available, and honestly, PACER is a piece of shit to get stuff from anyway.&lt;p&gt;However, I wouldn&amp;#x27;t believe random tweets.
For example, one says:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Notable that though there&amp;#x27;s no evidence Barrett took part in the hack releasing credit card info judge is determined he did.
#FreeBB&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;This is pretty unlikely, particularly if it was used as a sentencing factor.
Every federal judge knows that you can&amp;#x27;t use facts not proven to a jury or in a plea agreement, to enhance a sentence.&lt;p&gt;This is completely well-settled law now.
See  United States v. Booker, 543 US 220 (2005), Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 (2004) and Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000)&lt;p&gt;(Apprendi is a little different in that it says you can&amp;#x27;t enhance past statutory maximum, but Booker and Blakely make plain you can&amp;#x27;t enhance at all except using facts admitted by the defendant or proven to a jury)</text></comment>