Ortiz says suicide will not change handling of cases | Boston Herald

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office doubled down in defense of its handling of the case against the late Aaron Swartz last night, but his loved ones say she needs to reflect on her official “bullying,” while legal experts said they believe the Internet activist’s suicide while facing cyber-theft charges could haunt Ortiz’s career — and change the way her office prosecutes cases.

Ortiz’s spokeswoman, Christina DiIorio-Sterling, said last night the Swartz case won’t affect the office’s handling of other cases. “Absolutely not,” she said. “We thought the case was reasonably handled and we would not have done things differently.

“We’re going to continue doing the work of the office and of following our mission.”

Swartz’s grieving girlfriend, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, told the Herald, “I am saddened that Ms. Ortiz isn’t taking this moment to reflect on the role of proportionality and judgment in the pursuit of justice. Ms. Ortiz’s office pursued a legal strategy of intimidation where they threatened Aaron with decades of time in prison for an alleged crime with no victims. That’s not justice. That’s bullying.”

Swartz’s father, Robert D. Swartz, reached last night at his Illinois home, said, “We disagree with the statement of the U.S. attorney’s office and believe there has been a grave miscarriage of justice, and believe the facts will bear us out.”

R. Bradford Bailey, a defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said he expects the Swartz case’s uproar to continue.

“It may lead to the U.S. attorney’s office looking at each case on its own merits. It may lead to U.S. 
Attorney General Eric Holder asking them to not look at things in terms of just numbers,” said Bailey, who said he’s been “quite frustrated” by prosecutors’ lack of flexibility. “If it does result in more flexibility and more ability to get outside of the mathematical grid, and an effort to come up with more responsible solutions, in the end, it may be some good coming out of a tragic and unfortunate situation.”

Meanwhile, attorney Daniel Gelb, a former assistant district attorney and a district chairman of the National Association of Criminal 
Defense Lawyers’ White Collar Crime Committee, said the Swartz case illustrates just how much power Ortiz has: “I think this case is a wake-up call with respect to the enormity of the impact a criminal prosecution can have on defendants whose conduct does not necessarily warrant the potential exposure under what can be extremely draconian sentencing guidelines.”

Swartz hanged himself earlier this month while facing charges of hacking into an Massachusetts Institute of Technology network. Ortiz last week expressed sympathy for Swartz’s family but said she was “terribly upset” they’re blaming her office.