Chicago Hacktavist Denied Bail

By aaroncynic in News on Nov 22, 2012 7:00PM

A judge in New York denied bail to Jeremy Hammond, a hacker arrested in a March FBI raid in Bridgeport and accused of hacking into Stratfor, a private intelligence firm with connections to several government agencies. The Chicago Tribune reports Federal Judge Loretta Preska rejected a request by Hammond’s defense team to release him under house arrest with family. Prosecutors called the accused hacker a flight risk and Judge Preska said Hammond poses “a very substantial danger to the community.”

Hammond’s lawyers argued that the evidence against him, which ABC7 reported amounts to the digitized equivalent of 100,000 pages, could not be reviewed properly from federal prison. One attorney told ABC “the necessary review of this material with the defendant could take years, with a paralegal visiting the jail five days a week.” Hammond has been held in federal lockup in New York without bail or trial for more than 8 months.

Hammond supporter Sue Crabtree told Democracy Now:

“The media calls Jeremy a hacker, and a member of Anonymous, the courts and those pursuing his prosecution, call him a criminal. But we call Jeremy a hero, and we ask what crimes has Jeremy committed that haven’t equally exposed the very crimes by the state prosecuting him. And again we say, exposing the crimes of the state is not a crime.”

Hammond’s defense team plans to appeal the decision.