| | |
|
CourtneySmithFirstPaper 4 - 01 Mar 2010 - Main.EbenMoglen
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
|---|
| | | Freedom of the Individual and the State
In addition to the charge for lying to the FBI, as if he had reported the vials stolen as part of an elaborate hoax, Dr. Butler was charged with 68 additional offenses, ranging from fraud, embezzlement, and tax evasion to illegal transportation of plague bacteria. The charges carried a maximum sentence of 469 years in prison and $17 million in fines, but prosecutors offered him six months if he would plead guilty. Believing he had done nothing wrong, Dr. Butler refused. The National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and four Nobel Laureates wrote in his support, asserting that all of the practices of which Butler had been accused (the government focused on Butler’s international transportation of specimens and his compensation for outside research) are standard in the medical research community. In spite of a competent defense and widespread support, some of the charges stuck, and Butler was sentenced to two years in federal prison. | |
<
< | Dr. Butler’s case is not unique; a prosecutor always exercises some degree of judgment in determining whom to pursue and how, a decision which is invariably informed by politics. As former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy? noted in an interview about the case with CBS News, “This is a time when it’s important to get the message out to the world that we’re serious about dealing with components of weapons of mass destruction.” His statement elides the irony that in its effort to demonstrate its competence to combat a bioterrorist threat, the government’s show trial merely succeeded in halting the work of a scientist leading the search for better ways to fight weaponized disease. | >
> | Dr. Butler’s case is not unique; a prosecutor always exercises some degree of judgment in determining whom to pursue and how, a decision which is invariably informed by politics. As former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy noted in an interview about the case with CBS News, “This is a time when it’s important to get the message out to the world that we’re serious about dealing with components of weapons of mass destruction.” His statement elides the irony that in its effort to demonstrate its competence to combat a bioterrorist threat, the government’s show trial merely succeeded in halting the work of a scientist leading the search for better ways to fight weaponized disease. | | | Coda
The local defender who represented Dr. Butler at trial died this month. He is remembered here in terms which would make most lawyers proud. | |
<
< |
| | | | |
<
< | # * Set ALLOWTOPICVIEW = TWikiAdminGroup, CourtneySmith | >
> | Yes, it's a bad story of
something that happened to a doctor of skill and character that
happens to tens of thousands of people every year in the US. Your
emphasis on this story and its circumstances gives the impression
that this sort of thing happens because of the 200 FBI agents and the
bioterrorism panic. All sorts of crimes are solved like this all the
time. What happens to university professors and white doctors also
happens to working class people who aren't pink-complexioned. More
often, because in general they're much more vulnerable. Here the
fight was exceptionally well-conducted by a determined if overmatched
lawyer. Usually the fight is thrown.
So the part that I miss
most about this essay is the absence of a conclusion. Are you
telling the story of something that happened to a privileged fellow
crushed by an episode of exceptional stupidity? Or are you
mentioning an unusually gilt-edged edition of the same old same old?
What your story stands for is the essay's point, and you're not
saying. | | | \ No newline at end of file |
|
|
|
|
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform.
All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
All material marked as authored by Eben Moglen is available under the license terms CC-BY-SA version 4.
|
|
| | |