3.04.2013

Anonymous Drops One on Federal Judge Loretta Preska

Claiming a serious breach of judicial ethics, Anonymous posts enough information on the web to get the Honorable Loretta Preska into real ethics trouble.

You see, a judge isn't supposed to hear a case if she is married to someone who has an interest in that same case.  That's called a "conflict of interest" and every judge is supposed to let someone else hear the case, in what is called "recusal."

The appearance of fairness is very important, not just fairness itself.  That's why every judge has ethics rules about this kind of a thing.

What Hon. Judge Loretta Preska did was decide bail in a case where Stratfor was hacked.  The thing is, her husband is a client of Stratfor and was affected by the crime for which she was deciding bail.

See the AP report:

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has refused to grant bail to a Chicago man charged in a conspiracy to hack into corporations and government agencies worldwide.

Federal Judge Loretta Preska says Jeremy Hammond poses "a very substantial danger to the community." She rejected arguments by his lawyers Tuesday that he be freed on bail secured by houses owned by relatives.

Prosecutors call Hammond a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Hammond has been held since his March arrest. The judge says he has demonstrated a lack of respect for court orders and a sophisticated ability to get into databases online and obtain information including credit card numbers.

Hammond has pleaded not guilty in website attacks the government says were carried out by the loosely organized worldwide hacking group Anonymous.


Judge Loretta Preska decided that there would be no bail for Jeremy Hammond.

I made a few calls strictly for the purposes of verification, and the phone numbers are valid.

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