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<title>[gH] www.KevinMitnick.com[gH]</title>
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<h1>..:gH:..</h1>
<p>Government finally gives up and realizes they lost the battle.&nbsp;
</p>
<p>Below is what I believe to be a very well written article, please read this
and do some follow up.&nbsp; Kevin Mitnick is being unfairly and unlawfully
treated.&nbsp; Support the FREE KEVIN motion. www.KevinMitnick.com</p>
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<td vAlign="top" width="600"><b><font size="5" face="Americana">L.A.
district attorney drops Mitnick case</font></b><font face="Americana"><br>
By <i>Paul Elias</i>, ZDNN<br>
August 6, 1999 6:09 PM PT<br>
URL: <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2310792,00.html?chkpt=hpqs014">http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2310792,00.html?chkpt=hpqs014</a></font>
<p><font face="Americana">The Los Angeles district attorney gave Kevin
Mitnick a birthday present Friday, dropping its six-year-old computer
hacking case against the convicted hacker.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">That development could speed the release of
the 35-year-old, removing an obstacle that could have prevented Mitnick
from going free from federal prison soon after he is formally sentenced
Monday in an unrelated federal case.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">&quot;We're ecstatic,&quot; said Carolyn Hagin,
one of Mitnick's attorneys in the state case.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">Deputy District Attorney Daniel Bershin said
he dropped the state case because it had been &quot;mischarged.&quot;</font>
<p><font face="Americana"><span class="msubhead3">Dubious 'computer'
crime</span><br>
In 1993, the district attorney charged Mitnick with one count of
illegally accessing a Department of Motor Vehicles computer and
retrieving confidential information. The problem with that charge is
that Mitnick, posing as a Welfare Fraud investigator, simply picked up a
telephone on Dec. 24, 1992, and duped an employee accessing the DMV
computer for him.</font>
<p><font face="Americana"><ZD-TALKBACK>
</font>
<p><font face="Americana">&quot;Since Mitnick did not personally connect
to the DMV computer, but either he or someone else communicated with the
DMV technician via a telephone conversation,&quot; Bershin wrote in his
motion to dismiss the case, &quot;it would be difficult to prove that
Mitnick gained entry to the DMV computer, or that he instructed or
communicated with the logical, arithmetical or memory function resources
of the DMV computer.&quot;</font>
<p><font face="Americana">Bershin also confirmed at a July 28 hearing
what many of Mitnick's supporters have been claiming for years: that
their martyr has been the target of overzealous prosecution.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">Bershin first informed Los Angeles County
Superior Court Judge Leland Harris of the district attorney's intention
to drop the case at the July 28 hearing, a position that caught Harris
off guard.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">As early as July 7, Deputy District Attorney
Larry Diamond -- who had originally handled Mitnick's case -- was
vigorously arguing against any reduction in Mitnick's $1 million bail
pending trial.</font>
<p><font face="Americana"><span class="msubhead3">Judge 'curious'</span><br>
&quot;So I'm curious as to why all of a sudden between July 7 and July
28 we have this radical change in position,&quot; the judge asked of
Bershin.</font>
<p><font face="Americana"><MUSTSEE1>
&quot;Well, I think to be quite candid, the answer, or course, is Mr.
Diamond,&quot; Bershin said. &quot;I know that Mr. Diamond has wanted to
handle this matter personally for a long time ... and I know that Mr.
Diamond personally believes that Mr. Mitnick has been skating through
the system for a long time and has a great interest in him.&quot;</font>
<p><font face="Americana">At that July 28 hearing, Harris refused to
dismiss the case, saying to do so would be &quot;a radical jump off the
precipice to move to dismiss at this time.&quot; He ordered Bershin to
submit a written motion to dismiss, which Harris granted Friday.</font>
<p><font face="Americana"><span class="msubhead3">Halfway house an
option</span><br>
Harris' action clears the way for Mitnick's freedom. He is due to be
sentenced in federal court for several hacking charges he pleaded guilty
to in March. His attorney in the federal case, Donald Randolph of L.A.'s
Randolph &amp; Levanas, said he will ask Central District Judge Mariana
Pfaelzer to order Mitnick into a halfway house after formally sentencing
him to 68 months in prison.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">Randolph said he is optimistic Pfaelzer will
grant the request, but if she doesn't Mitnick is set to go free sometime
in January.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">Still at issue is the amount of money Mitnick
must repay in restitution. His victims, including several high-tech
giants such as Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:<a href="http://www.zdii.com/industry_list_new.asp?mode=news&amp;ticker=sunw">SUNW</a>)
and Motorola Corp. (NYSE:<a href="http://www.zdii.com/industry_list_new.asp?mode=news&amp;ticker=mot">MOT</a>),
say that Mitnick's hacking cost them millions of dollars in compromised
intellectual property.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">Federal prosecutors are seeking $1.5 million
in restitution. Mitnick, through Randolph, argues that he is leaving
prison broke and that conditions of his probation, once he is released,
severely restrict his access to a computer, the only way he knows how to
make a living.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">Pfaelzer has indicated that she will order
Mitnick to make some restitution, which she is scheduled to decide
Monday as well.</font>
<p><font face="Americana">Mitnick was arrested in 1995 after a
high-profile, two-year, electronic manhunt for him.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Americana">Props to: Stonehenge Crew &amp; Level Seven.</font></p>
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