First RIAA Case Victim Finally Speaks Out

An anonymous reader writes with a link to an article at P2P Net about the very first victim of the RIAA's file-sharing litigation sweep. The site gave Jammie Thomas the chance to explain in her own words what the last two years have been like. She recounts her experiances with subpoenas, Best Buy, and most of all, stress. Even after all this time, her case is still in legal limbo: "As for what's next, my attorney filed a motion to have the verdict thrown out or to have the judgment reduced based on the constitutionality of the judgment. This is not an appeal, this is a post trial motion. We are currently waiting for the plaintiffs to file their response to our motion. The judge will not make a decision on that motion until after the plaintiffs have filed. The timeline for appeals is we have 30 days after the judge decides all post trial motions before we file any appeals ... I do know personally I cannot allow my case to end this way, with this judgment. My case will be used as a sledgehammer by the RIAA to force other people caught in the RIAA's driftnets to settle, even if they are or are not guilty of illegally sharing music online."

Re:Victim?

[st0rmshad0w]

Sigh. No. Wrong.

She was judged to be LIABLE, not guilty, based on the fact that she had offered files for upload, despite earlier cases where such an offering was not considered to be fact enough to prove infringement. A fact which was hidden from the trial judge even tho it was known to the RIAA attorneys, who should have disclosed that to the court.

This should be tossed on that fact alone.

Now, when will we see the RIAA sue EMI?

Re:I'm glad...

[Shakrai]

Without it she has no chance of reducing her fine.

Ugh, it's not a fine. It's a civil judgment. If she can't get it overturned on appeal her options are to pay up or file bankruptcy.

Yes, you can donate

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if people can donate to their legal fund?

Paypal [slashdot.org] mention by NewYorkCountryLawyer [slashdot.org]. Here is direct link [freejammie.com]. Other methods also described on the page set up for her, the direct link mentioned above. Can even purchase "Free Jammie" t-shirts there.

Re:Victim?

[Kjella]

In some ways I think it's easier - if not it could become a (greater) flamefest whether you should pay for something you *probably* did and possibly not, preponderance of evidence and all. Since the evidence sounds rather compelling, we can move right on to the main dish IMO - should you be liable for $10000/song you're sharing? I think it tastes a lot like "Well, everybody's speeding but we only caught you so you get ten years in prison". It's not interesting to me that RIAA managed to get a conviction, copyright is law and file sharers are plenty. What's interesting is whether the courts will let the RIAA turn liability law (damages) into punitative law (penalties). Statutory damages were originally supposed to be an approximation of actual damages where those are hard to calculate, but there's no fucking way she personally did $220000 worth of damage to the RIAA. In then takes the effect of a fine, payable to a private company. While there are a few punitative elements in civil law like 3x damage for willfully infringing a patent, there's nothing where it's 99% penalty and 1% damage.

Legal Terminology 101

[jelton]

Okay, time for a language lesson so that [some] of you might at least sound like you know what you are talking about.

This was a civil trial, not a criminal trial. In civil trials:

1. The parties are referred to as plaintiffs and the defendants. There is no prosecution.
2. There is no finding of guilt, only of liability. Guilt is a term used in criminal trials
3. There is no punishment, only damages. Punishment is a term used in criminal trials

To sum up:

• In criminal trials, the prosecution seeks a finding of guilt and, if found, the court then imposes a punishment.
• In civil trials, the plaintiff seeks a finding of fault and, if found, the court imposes damages.

When you mix these terms up you sound ignorant, like when your mother confuses the difference between USB and ethernet cables or your sister confuses the terms uploading and downloading.

"Your mother" jokes to follow, I'm sure.

Re:Enough with the spin

[anagama]

Two errors: 1) she isn't black; 2) she said she couldn't afford her expert -- her expert wasn't excluded.