Lost iPhone 4 Prototype Finders Sentenced to Probation

[powers74]

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Couldn't find $ufficient evidence...

 

[toddybody]

Junk thought like this is a plague in our society.

As many have said in this thread, what they did was criminal, and no matter how large or small, you will get punished if caught and found guilty.

A few months ago I got fined and ticketed for speeding. I was going 70mph in a 55mph zone.

Is this a dangerous speed? No, conditions were ideal.

Was I breaking Pennsylvania's road laws? Yes.

Did I know that I could potentially be fined and possibly have points applied to my license for doing this? Of course.

Did I bitch about it? Of course.

Did I try to peg the blame on someone else or blame our supposedly backwards and corrupt criminal justice system and did my friends suggest I "sue the hell out of" the HPD for the trauma of flashing lights in my eyes? Of course not, because I use the gray lump of matter in my head known as my brain.

Wow. You're ridiculing my opinion while comparing your speeding ticket to the topic at hand? I cant believe your throwing insults about my level of intelligence.

Could you have responded to my opinion with civility and rational thought? No, you had to make it a personal attack. My opinion has nothing to do with you.

Perhaps if the Cops broke into your house, interrogated you, and then paraded you around in court, gave you probation (and a criminal record by extension), and possibly ruined your professional career for that speeding ticket...then perhaps you'd have a better platform of comparison.

 

[D-Dave]

Wagstaffe did, however, have some harsh words for the behavior of Gizmodo's staff.

Wagstaffe said, however, that his office's review of the computers seized from [Gizmodo editor Jason] Chen's home showed the correspondence between Gizmodo editors was "juvenile."

"It was obvious that they were angry with the company about not being invited to some press conference or some big Apple event. We expected to see a certain amount of professionalism--this is like 15-year-old children talking," Wagstaffe said. "There was so much animosity, and they were very critical of Apple. They talked about having Apple right where they wanted them and they were really going to show them."

The district attorney's office had specifically looked for evidence of Gizmodo's participation in theft leading to possession of stolen property, as well as potential extortion, but did not find sufficient evidence to support either charge.

While I do not have much sympathy for Gizmondo, I am pretty shocked by the behaviour of Wagstaffe.
His job was to review evidence on the suspects computers, which he did not find. Maybe there are no privacy rules this distict attorney has to comply with but to me it is common sense that his only statement should have been "We did not find sufficient evidence to support any charges."
Anthing else he stated was personal judgment which does not seem to be appropriate for someone paid to be a neutral part of the legal system!

 

[tbrinkma]

While I do not have much sympathy for Gizmondo, I am pretty shocked by the behaviour of Wagstaffe.
His job was to review evidence on the suspects computers, which he did not find. Maybe there are no privacy rules this distict attorney has to comply with but to me it is common sense that his only statement should have been "We did not find sufficient evidence to support any charges."
Anthing else he stated was personal judgment which does not seem to be appropriate for someone paid to be a neutral part of the legal system!

Being neutral doesn't mean what you think it does. It means viewing the available evidence without prejudice, and drawing conclusions based solely on that available evidence.

Personally, I'm surprised the buyer at Gizmodo didn't get prosecuted for knowingly buying stolen goods, because that's exactly how the initial articles described the process. They knew the phone didn't belong to the seller, and they also knew who it actually belonged to. They published both of those facts in the original articles. Frankly, I'm *amazed* that that wasn't considered enough evidence to go forward.

 

[bigandtasty]

Man that Jason Chen is a freaky looking guy. His mouth looks like an 4$$Hole!

 

[NeverhadaPC]

Corporations > people.

The Money Crimes of 2008 are still unpunished, but two guys who find a device in a bar and sell it on are charged with a crime and Apple wants to put them in jail.

Who is the legal system protecting...

 

[fidelityrevo]

Outrageous sentence

A sentence of a years probation for this is outrageous. That means if they get picked up for anything in the next year they could go to jail. There is no justice in this. Apple contractors pay wages so low to Chinese workers that some killed themselves in dispair, who is in jail from that? Chinese workers poisoned by chemicals in iPhone plant, who is jailed for that? Where are the indictments for Jobs and the board of Apple for allowing human rights violations in their plants. The disparity of treatment reflects the power of greedy corporations to absolute impunity, while the rest of us are treated like rats. It would be one thing to require community service, but probation is beyond the pale.

 

[Antares]

What! No death sentence?

That would be a perfect way to discourage such actions in the future.

😉

 

[charlituna]

This is ridiculous. Jail time? Do we know the FACTS of all this? Has it been PROVEN in court that these men acquired the prototype through illegal means?

California state law says if you find something and you don't honestly try to return it, you stole it. Even if Gary left it on the bar, the moment Brian and friend picked it up and walked out with it instead of giving it to the staff, it was stolen property.

Also Gizmodo wasn't 'cleared' of the charges. They confessed to buying the phone and how much. the DA just decided that the meager amount of punishment they would be able to get wasn't worth the time and money to get it and aren't going to bother. Being banned for life by Apple is still in effect and likely more damaging than any probation etc the DA could slap on Chen

For heavens sake, Apple "lost" a 2nd prototype at a bar

"According to sources", one of whom might be the bar itself. No one can actually prove that there ever was a 2nd lost phone.

A SWAT raid on the man's house, and now this?

rather hyperbolic. it's not like they went in guns blazing. They knocked, they presented the warrant, they removed the items.

These men now have criminal records.

They broke state criminal laws.

 

[charlituna]

honestly, no surprises here. I used to read Gizmodo daily. And over time the way they jump to conclusions and keep writing judgmental skiddish articles they don't even bother spell-checking, really got me to stop reading Gizmodo altogether. I wouldn't even go out to lunch with any of their editors, because most of them seem like total jerks from the way they write. Decline of journalism is at hand.

Sister site gawker is just as bad. They tried their iPad stunt. And have been at their anti Apple games ever since.

The latest was getting some doctor who is hardly an expert on cancer and has never met Steve Jobs dissing on how he handled his condition. Basically saying that he killed himself because he didn't go straight in for surgery etc. But who knows what he was originally told was his condition, when he found out it was cancer, the timing of the different treatments etc. So basically their story was a pile up of total bs