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The question surfaced after two North Carolina residents were convicted Nov. 3 of inundating America Online Inc. users with unrequested e-mails - commonly called “spam.”
But no sooner had Jeremy Jaynes and Jessica Degroot been pronounced guilty than Circuit Judge Thomas Home agreed to reconsider a defense motion to drop charges against them.
After handing down convictions, the jury recommended that Jaynes serve nine years in prison and Degroot, his sister, pay $7,500.
A third defendant, Richard Rutowski, was acquitted.
David Obion, attorney for Jaynes - noted by the Register of Known Spam Operators as the world’s eighth most prolific spammer - said Judge Home has already set a hearing date for Jan. 21, 2005, to consider a motion to challenge whether Virginia had jurisdiction. At that hearing, the judge could decide to dismiss the juiys verdict if the motion is granted.
“I still think ultimately we will win the case,” Obion said. “I think in the end there won’t be a conviction. Frequently, robbers don’t even get nine years.”
The judge first heard Obion’s motion to strike all charges against Jaynes on day five of the trial. His challenge was that Virginia did not have jurisdiction because the e-mails were sent from North Carolina. The e-mails, Obion said, only passed through Virginia and were not subject to its law.
Prosecutor Russell Maguire argued that under Virginia’s law, enacted in 2003, any spam sent through Virginia’s networks is fair game.
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