Citing his diminutive physical stature among other mitigating
factors, the Tennessee man who hacked Miley Cyrus’s e-mail account has
asked a federal judge to spare him prison time when he appears Monday
for sentencing on felony spamming and computer fraud charges.
In
an October 26 pre-sentencing memorandum, the lawyer for Josh Holly, 22,
argued that a probation term would be “sufficiently onerous punishment
for a first-time offender of immature mental age.” Even a brief jail
term, attorney Sumter Camp contended, “would hinder rather than aid
Josh’s rehabilitation.”
Camp also noted that Holly deserved credit for meeting earlier this
year with an FBI agent to provide “information about others that he was
aware were involved in illegal computer-related activities.”
Holly, pictured in the above mug shot, pleaded guilty in August to
possessing about 200 stolen credit card numbers and to sending spam
mailings via MySpace. He has not been charged in connection with the
late-2007 Cyrus hack, for which he took credit in online postings, as
well as in an October 2008 FBI interview. Holly distributed online racy
images of the underage Cyrus that he found in her Gmail account.
Responding today to Camp’s memo, a federal prosecutor wrote
that he would not challenge factors raised about Holly’s “youth, mental
and emotional issues and physical stature.” Though government lawyer
Hilliard Hester did note that he was the same height as the 5’ 6” Holly,
who was “not so remarkably short” that a downward sentencing is
warranted.
As for Holly’s “suggested sentence of probation with home detention,” Hester countered
that such a penalty would not be sufficient, stating that “further
negative reinforcement is needed to deter future criminal conduct.” The
prosecutor also noted that Holly recently violated terms of his release
by accessing the Internet and posting messages on Facebook and Google+.
In a July 4 Facebook post, Holly wrote, "I’m having these strong
urges to start playing around and hacking shit again, there’s so much
new stuff on the net. I can’t stop these urges. Am I a bad person?”
Holly's unauthorized online activity was described in a U.S. District Court filing made by a Pretrial Services Officer.
While the respective court submissions do not detail the specific
sentencing guideline range Holly faces, it appears that his possible
prison exposure is limited. In fact, Hester wrote that if Judge Aleta
Trauger opted for a probationary sentence, the Department of Justice
recommended that Holly “serve three (3) consecutive days in actual
custody” to be followed by 90 days in a halfway house
Wow this kids need to go to jail!
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