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Prosecutors seek 25 years in prison for deadly Kansas hoax
Federal prosecutors are seeking a 25-year prison sentence for a California man who made a hoax call that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between online gamers.
[...] Barriss faces sentencing Friday in federal court in Wichita for making the false report resulting in a death. He has pleaded guilty to 51 charges related to fake calls and threats across the country.
The defense is seeking a 20-year prison sentence.
Sentencing is set for March 29.
Previously: Swatted: Police Kill Innocent Man in Kansas
Related: Gamers Use Police Hoax to Lash Out at Opponents
Swatter Just Prankster?
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Swatter Who Caused a Death in Kansas Likely Faces at Least 20 Years in Prison
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QOTD:
"I've always wanted to work in the Federal Mint. And then go on
strike. To make less money."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 02 2019, @01:29PM (7 children)
If it isn't unlawful, use false information. Use a remailing service. Use a VPN. Use throwaway email accounts. Lie on every form you're permitted to. Assume everything will leak. Forego services which require real information. Poison the well by volunteering false information.
Be honest with friends, lie with every breath to corporations (unless it is unlawful).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 02 2019, @02:34PM (5 children)
You do realize the guy committed a crime right?
Even if they police just politely knocked on your door (which he did not want) you would be pissed off having to deal with it. They would be pissed off even being there. Everyone's time is wasted except the troll who is laughing at you.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 02 2019, @03:05PM (4 children)
The victim let his address be known to people who then (willingly or not) gave it to the effective murderer, had he consistently used remailing services/avoided stating it/lied about it then this wouldn't have been possible.
You can't stop people destroying your life once they have that information, your only hope is to not be targeted or prevent it being found.
Just because it's criminal to swat people doesn't mean it won't happen to you, you can't just throw your hands up and say "but it'd be illegal to misuse that information!", that won't do shit to bring your dog back to life. Just because ransomware is illegal doesn't mean you don't need to bother keeping your browser updated. Just because burglary is illegal doesn't mean you don't need to lock your door. Just because swatting is illegal doesn't mean you don't need to keep your address secret.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 02 2019, @06:19PM (1 child)
Yes, yes, blame the victim for not being more bulletproof. Why not just blame him for being alive when the police showed up? If he had killed himself none of this would have happened.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 02 2019, @07:52PM
The persons morally responsible are the swatter and police, that does not preclude others from having the ability to prevent it.
Advising a person to lock their door isn't blaming those who forget for them having been burgled.
I literally couldn't have made that clearer than the tedious and redundant list of examples, none of which would have been there if there world weren't filled with idiots like yourself.
I hope you're intentionally misunderstanding me, because if not I'll be sad.
(Score: 4, Informative) by NotSanguine on Saturday March 02 2019, @08:19PM (1 child)
Actually, in the case being discussed, the swatter was given an incorrect address and the person shot had absolutely nothing to do do with the dispote that sparked the swatting.
So, yes, the victim let his address be known, because it is a valid address. I imagine that I could choose your address when swatting someone else. That would make you an idiot too, wouldn't it? Please.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 02 2019, @09:23PM
Sorry for not bothering to read TFA. The fact that the intended victim lying about his address saved his life proves the utility of doing so however.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 03 2019, @07:43PM
I don't know what the legality of lying has to do with anything. There are a few documents which really do need to be factual, like a driver's license. A birth certificate. A death certificate. Enlistment papers. I was about to say real estate documents, but those need not be terribly factual - you can make up a maze of corporate shadows to hold the deed to some land and a building. Anything else - I've never worried about legalities. I tell them whatever I decide to tell them on the spur of the moment.
Census forms. The wife finally caught on that I fill in bullshit on the forms, so now she heads me off, and fills all that shit in, THEN tells me that she has done it already. When I did them, I might be Chinese, Latino, Russian, Native American, or Martian - and she and the kids were anything and everything. She just didn't think that was funny.