October 9th, 2007
You're NOT going to believe this about one of the RIAA trial jurors
Michael Hegg, a juror in the trial where Jammie Thomas was convicted of music copyright infringement tells Wired’s THREAT LEVEL (I am not shouting, their name is all-caps) that the jury convicted her because they wanted to send her “a message.”
Hegg said the $222,000 verdict in favor of the RIAA and six music labels was arrived at because of a compromise.
Reading avid Kravets’ post, there’s a couple of facts that really jumped out at me.
One of at least two jurors wanted to assess Thomas the maximum $150,000 per song. On the basis of $150,000 x 24 violations, that would have pushed the judgment to $3.6 million, Unidentified by name, this person is a funeral director by profession. Gee, I thought funeral directors were supposed to be compassionate people. Well, I wouldn’t want him burying anyone I know.
What’s even more incredible: Hegg told Kravets that Jammie Thomas “is a liar,” also told Kravets that he “never (has) been on the Internet.”
Maybe I am a bit behind here, but answer me this, please.
If a juror has “never been on the Internet”- not even just once- and presumably has never been curious enough to even take a peek at that “series of tubes,” how in heaven’s name can such a person comprehend what file sharing is or isn’t?
It’s like asking someone who has been sightless from birth to judge a beauty contest.
I wonder if Jammie Thomas’ attorney raised this point during jury selection?
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
