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Guatemala Judge Orders McAfee Released 139

Posted by Soulskill from the james-bond-moviemakers-frantically-taking-notes dept.
An anonymous reader points out an AP report which says a judge in Guatemala has ordered the release of John McAfee from a detention center. "Lawyer Telesforo Guerra said the judge notified him verbally of the ruling, but added that it may take a day for formal written notification to win McAfee's release, possibly as soon as Wednesday." McAfee, on the run from Belizean police, was arrested in Guatemala several days ago after making himself known to authorities. He did so because a pair of reporters who were interviewing him posted a photo which included metadata on the photo's location. In a live broadcast on Sunday, McAfee expressed a desire to return to the U.S. "I simply would like to live comfortably day by day, fish, swim, enjoy my declining years. My long-term plan was simply to get away from Belize, think, and decide what to do."
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Guatemala Judge Orders McAfee Released More

Guatemala Judge Orders McAfee Released

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  • Behold... the Power of the Internet (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Press2ToContinue ( 2424598 ) * on Tuesday December 11, 2012 @11:06PM (#42256735)

    A live, simple plea over worldwide streaming video without conventional media spin, circus or filter, and 48 hours later, he's released. That Guatemalan Judge don't want none of that.

    *snap*

    • Re:Behold... the Power of the Internet (Score:5, Informative)

      by Intrepid imaginaut ( 1970940 ) on Tuesday December 11, 2012 @11:09PM (#42256755)

      I think Belize and Guatemala have some ongoing disputes as well which may have had something to do with it. Doubt he'll be able to bring the girlfriend with him though.

      • Re:Behold... the Power of the Internet (Score:5, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 11, 2012 @11:18PM (#42256797)

        I'm pretty sure multi-millionaires don't worry about losing girlfriends

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AvitarX ( 172628 )

        Like that fact that officially Belize doesn't exist according to Guatemala. In exchange for not pressing the issue, they get promised access to the east coast though.

      • I vaguely recall that Guatemala considers Belize to be a province of Guatemala, stolen by the British. They have made threatening remarks about walking in and taking it back. I could be off base though.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • My first reaction: WTF is a multimillionaire in Belize doing bath salts for? Why can't he stick to snorting cocaine off of hookers like the other rich dudes? And yes, I'm also a proponent of 'legalize just about everything', INCLUDING cocaine and heroin*, and 'bath salts' manages to make my short list of stuff to make/keep illegal.

          Bath salts tend to burn the brain even quicker than badly cooked meth.

          *It's a harm mitigation strategy to defund organized crime; it needs to be a medical, not a criminal, issu

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by mcgrew ( 92797 ) *

            ...'bath salts' manages to make my short list of stuff to make/keep illegal.

            The trouble with that is that you can't just outlaw "bath salts"; there are too many different types, and making a new type is damned easy for a decent chemist. Bath salts only came along so crackheads can get a similar high from a "legal" drug. Like you say, "it needs to be a medical, not a criminal, issue. In my experience any 'successes' in the 'war on drugs' tend to simply have the users switch to something worse." Meth producti

            • Comment removed based on user account deletion

            • Meth production is way down in Illinois because of making it hard to get cold medicine, and the cops said on the news this morning that the methheads are switching to heroin, which is almost the exact opposite of meth in its effects, yet heroin ODs can kill you.

              I think you're misremembering that news article. They were finding that the addicts were replacing Oxycontin, not meth, with heroin.

              Legalize cocaine and only those who are already crazy (like McAffee) will do bath salts.

              That's the general idea. Heck, if cocaine and such had never been made illegal, odds are 'bath salts' would have never been developed in the first place.

              I align myself with the libertarian party because they're 'closest' to my views. I've been described as a 'practical minarchist', by which I mean that while I give any spending the stink eye, I'll support programs like free

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by mcgrew ( 92797 ) *

                I think you're misremembering that news article. They were finding that the addicts were replacing Oxycontin, not meth, with heroin.

                Nope, Here it is. [wics.com]

                "We've definitely seen a uptick in the use of heroin," Sangamon County Undersheriff Jack Campbell said. "We believe it's tied to the difficulty it is now to get the precursors to make methamphetamine. In other words, the meth users have switched over to heroin."

                • *Shrug*

                  I remember hearing a news article about a prescription pill crackdown, specifically oxycontin, leading to a flourishing heroin market. It was a radio program in the car, I don't remember where.

                  But in your case, it's a very interesting trend. Drug users DO drugs. They'll 'generally' go after the safest high that meets their needs that they can afford. The largest proportion is satisfied by the legal drugs - caffeine, alcohol, tobacco. Even more if you add marijuana. I personally think that if yo

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by mcgrew ( 92797 ) *

                    it's my belief that you can't really 'fix' an addict until they want to be fixed.

                    Addicts and rehab counselors agree with you.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      He more likely just paid off the local government. You'd be surprised at how many places in central America that you can do that.

      • Re:Behold... the Power of the Internet (Score:5, Insightful)

        by UltraZelda64 ( 2309504 ) on Wednesday December 12, 2012 @12:25AM (#42257137)

        Hey, if you're made of money, you can do the same thing here in the U.S. too... so what's the difference? Other than the fact that a small, central-American government will be willing to do it for less bribe money?

        That said, I'm not jumping to conclusions like everyone else and automatically assuming that this is what happened; I'm just making a point.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by amiga3D ( 567632 )

          Plenty of millionaires go to jail in the US it's just that thanks to better legal support they are far less likely to. The level of proof to put the rich in jail is far higher than for people who are poor.

          • Better legal system? You mean the one in which people can just pay better (ie. more expensive) lawyers if they have the money, effectively buying their way of having to go to jail in the first place in many cases?

            No doubt the legal system is better here than what they have in shitholes like the one that John McAfee fled from, but it still favors the rich. And don't even get me started on some of the ridiculous laws that make criminals out of people who get caught for some of the most harmless (to other pe

            • With a lot of money you will generally:
              live healthier
              have better lawyers
              have better food
              have better doctors
              have a better education
              be able to get away with things that those poorer than you cannot ...
              This is the way it is.
              This is the way it always was.

              As long as there's money in the equation, that's the way it will be.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by amiga3D ( 567632 )

                Unfortunately for some that have loads of money they don't have the self discipline to go with it. This often results in drug abuse and a lifestyle that leads to early death. Given some self control and good sense your post would be correct though.

                • In this case, at least those people made up their own decision to fuck up their lives, instead of the government butting in and doing it for them (typically much more abruptly). That is the way it should be for everyone, but instead the government shows no remorse for certain petty "crimes" and irrecoverably destroys lives on a much more grand scale than drugs alone could ever achieve in many cases.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Quila ( 201335 )

          Hey, if you're made of money, you can do the same thing here in the U.S. too...

          So that's why billionaire Bernie Madoff is in jail on a 150 year sentence. Being rich can reduce your chance of conviction in court, but it won't just make the whole thing disappear. Well, unless you're a drunk-driving Kennedy who just got a girl killed, but that was more about political power than money.

          • Yes, I'm sure that guy will live to be over 220 years old in order to serve his complete sentence. The guy has already reached old age. They might as well have just given him a slap on the wrist, because at the most all they have done is cut five or eight years away from the time he becomes senile, at which point--does it even matter if he is in jail? He'll probably be somewhere up in la-la land mentally.

            With his "crime" though, it's insane to be locking him up with hundreds of actually violent people.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Quila ( 201335 )

              They might as well have just given him a slap on the wrist

              Thinking of it another way, they might as well have just given him the death sentence because most people are on death row for longer than he will probably live.

              With his "crime" though, it's insane to be locking him up with hundreds of actually violent people. It would make far more sense to take virtually all of his money

              I say do both. And not virtually all of his money, but every single penny plus a lien for anything his estate may accrue in the

    • Re:Behold... the Power of the Internet (Score:4, Interesting)

      by westlake ( 615356 ) on Tuesday December 11, 2012 @11:35PM (#42256889)

      A live, simple plea over worldwide streaming video without conventional media spin, circus or filter, and 48 hours later, he's released.

      Belize has had a "mutual assistance in law enforcement" treaty with the US for twelve years. That means that McAfee can be sent back to Belize if his testimony is needed in a on-going criminal investigation.

      It would be very interesting to know whether the common law rule that "evidence of flight is evidence of guilt" still holds in Belize.

    • He wants to live out his declining years in peace? Awww! Y'know, I bet Gregory Faull probably wanted to do the same thing eventually!

      And yes, McAfee does deserve a fair trial, and may or may not be able to get one in Belize, considering how much he's upset the local authorities.

  • Interesting... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 11, 2012 @11:23PM (#42256825)

    I guess his check cleared.

  • But the real question is (Score:4, Funny)

    by Andy Prough ( 2730467 ) on Tuesday December 11, 2012 @11:26PM (#42256839)
    Has he made any progress in finding the "real killer"? I'm sure that's much more important to him than his own freedom.
    • haha all he needs is a mirror!

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by akboss ( 823334 )
      Did OJ ever find the real killer(s)???

      • Re:But the real question is (Score:4, Interesting)

        by GPierce ( 123599 ) on Wednesday December 12, 2012 @01:11AM (#42257335)

        Actually, a detective who had been investigating the OJ case for 30 or so years came to the conclusion that the probable killer was OJ's oldest son Jason - his son from his first marriage. I think the tile of the book was something like "OJ was innocent and I can prove it".

        Allegedly, Jason had been treated for mental illness involving violence at least twice. At the time of the murders he was on probation for attacking his former boss with a knife, out of the set of chef's knives he always carried with him. He was also a friend of Nichole and spent a fair amount of time in her company - On the evening of the murders, she was supposed to be a guest at the restaurant where he was a chef.

        The book documented all of his theories in detail (about 600 pages worth) and appeared pretty convincing.

        The interesting part is that no one tried to rebut the contents of the book. The people you would expect to care simply ignored the book completely.

        It's kind of like the original trial where the defense claimed that the LAPD was bigoted and framed people for crimes they were not guilty of. Then we had the Rampart scandal where a member of the LAPD testified that they were bigoted and framed people and planted evidence to convict the not guilty.

        And most of America decided screw the evidence, he's guilty.

        • Re:But the real question is (Score:5, Informative)

          by rockout ( 1039072 ) on Wednesday December 12, 2012 @01:29AM (#42257407)

          No one paid attention because it's a ludicrous theory. And the motivation behind such a theory? oh, that simplest and oldest of reasons:

          "However, this theory is only advocated by one person and is described by "celebrity criminal defence lawyer" Jeffrey Steinberger as "absolutely absurd, ... a desperate attempt to sell a book".

          Also, he'd been "investigating" the case for 6 years, not 30. 30 would've been noteworthy indeed, considering the murders happened in 1994.

        • Most Americans don't understand that the LAPD had had a well-documented, decades-long history of hiring racist police and police brutality against minorities up through the 1960's, culminating in the Watts Riots of 1965, and the Rodney King beating riots of 1992. Some of that racial tension was still playing out in the courtroom at the time of the OJ trial.

        • Actually, a detective who had been investigating the OJ case for 30 or so years [...]

          The murders occurred in 1994. You're a whole decade off.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Wolfrider ( 856 )

          30 years?? OJ Simpson's murder trial was in 1995 - that's only 17 years. Pull the other one, it has got bells on.

      • Did OJ ever find the real killer(s)???

        He searched every golf course and strip club in Florida but OJ never found his ex-wife's killer!

  • I guess dealing with third world country's jail system has changed his mind quite quickly

    "I have been back to America many times since I have been in Belize. I have no interest of going this month or next but ... I can come and go freely to America any time I want."

    cnn article from Dec 8th [cnn.com]

  • There systems slow down so much that they had to let him go but even then it still needs formal written notification to get rid of that POS.

  • McAfee should be a virus killing word (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cstec ( 521534 ) on Tuesday December 11, 2012 @11:55PM (#42257017)
    The really sad thing for us geezers is that we remember John's early posts on this whole 'virus' thing, back in the BBS days, when it was just him and no one knew what he was talking about at first. It would be difficult to overestimate how much good he has done the world.

    • No it wouldn't. Most CS graduates can do more than he ever did. He simply isn't impressive, just there early.

      • He simply isn't impressive, just there early.

        That, in and of itself, is impressive. Certainly there were plenty of other CS graduates around before and during the time McAfee was developing his software. None of them did shit.

      • Re:McAfee should be a virus killing word (Score:5, Funny)

        by Pseudonym Authority ( 1591027 ) on Wednesday December 12, 2012 @02:00AM (#42257551)
        I know more math than Archimedes ever did. That fucking hack probably couldn't even solve a differential equation! He didn't know shit. Modern mathematicians can do a million times what he could, he was got in on the game first.
      • The same can be said for a lot of other innovators. But as they say: innovation is about execution, not about ideas. Ideas are cheap; the real trick is to recognize a good one and then follow through on it. Most of us have good ideas from time to time, but many are poor at assessing them, and even worse at putting our money where our hunch is and building a solid business.

        And in this case I'd say the idea was less obvious than is the case for many other inventions, and more about insight (or foresight

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Arker ( 91948 )
      This old geezer remembers it a bit differently. He had a technically inferior product (a signature scanner of all things! not a good design) but it succeeded in large part due to buddies at MS breaking alternative approaches relentlessly, partly due to effective marketing, and perhaps partly due to questionable hiring practices as I recall. Nothing he did was innovative or praiseworthy from a technical standpoint, though perhaps from a marketing and business standpoint things are different.

  • metadata (Score:2)

    by v1 ( 525388 )

    pair of reporters who were interviewing him posted a photo which included metadata on the photo's location.

    oopsie! someone really wasn't thinking... also makes you wonder why they would post the raws, or why their photoshopping tools maintain that. I really wouldn't expect photoshop to preserve gps metadata.

    • also makes you wonder why they would post the raws

      It's not really raw, it was a JPG - straight from an iPhone. If you give the photo app permission (it asks the first time you launch) it will record location in every photo thereafter, unless you specifically disable location in settings (you can turn it on or off).

  • But... (Score:1)

    by bmo ( 77928 )

    My long-term plan was simply to get away from Belize, think, and decide what to do."

    When you've turned into a real-life Bob Arctor with your own home-brewed "Substance D," is there any thinking left that you're capable of? After reading his blog posts, I have to say that his options for thinking logically are limited.

    But coming back to the US, his options for making his "Substance D" are going to be much more limited, so there's that.

    --
    BMO

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by bmo ( 77928 )

      Gah, I shoulda used the preview.

      --
      BMO

    • "When you've turned into a real-life Bob Arctor with your own home-brewed "Substance D," is there any thinking left that you're capable of? .. coming back to the US, his options for making his "Substance D" are going to be much more limited"

      As well as Gregory Viant Faull is a US citizen, so the US Justice department isn't as likely to go lenient as if McAfee had killed some non-US nonentity ..
      --

      "I saw Substance D. I saw death rising from the earth itself, in one blue field"
  • He's got dual citizenship England and the United States. Maybe he's playing this smart. If I were him I'd rather not be stuck in a prison in a country where you technically don't have rights because you aren't a citizen.

  • First with the rumour ... (Score:3)

    by dgharmon ( 2564621 ) on Wednesday December 12, 2012 @02:31AM (#42257693) Homepage
    "A lawyer for John McAfee said Tuesday that a judge has ordered the software company founder released from a Guatemalan detention center .. Judge Judith Secaida did not immediately return phone calls seeking to confirm the ruling."

    Doesn't anyone actually verify the story anymore ?

  • "My long-term plan was simply to get away from Belize, think, and decide what to do."

    If that is now McAfee's notion of long-term plans, I guess his short-term plans include bodily functions I hope even he wouldn't blog.

  • didn't ever really feel sorry for him (Score:3, Informative)

    by jafac ( 1449 ) on Wednesday December 12, 2012 @03:47AM (#42258027) Homepage

    So - this guy takes off from the USA so he can dodge paying American Taxes on his fortune (John Galt style!) - then he's shocked SHOCKED! to find out that governments in third-world countries are run like gangs, and will extort money from him. Now he's crying to get back into the US eh?

    Who is John Galt, and where are his back-taxes?

    • OT, but Galt didn't leave the US, did he? I remember Galt objected to paying income tax (and refunded Rearden's income tax as well), but not whether he was morally opposed to income tax in itself, or merely opposed to paying it to an oppressive government. I agree with the latter reason; I'm OK with paying income tax if the government handles that money wisely and spends it frugally. Where I live, that is not the case by any stretch of the imagination though. So I dodge taxes (by legal means, mind).

      • OT, but Galt didn't leave the US, did he?

        I thought he formed his own independent micro-state, hidden inside a mountain[1]?

        So that does count as leaving, sort of like Jefferson Davis did. Apart from the mountain. And the senseless slaughter.

        [1] Didn't he figure somebody would eventually spot it on Google Earth? Maybe he wasn't so smart after all.

    • Oh, don't worry - we US citizens abroad are among the only people on the face of the planet subject to double taxation. That's right - we pay taxes to our host government where we live (but never receive services) and to the US government as well (where we never receive services as well). Why? Well, apparently Obama thinks that the only reason any American would ever leave America (the best country, ever) is to avoid taxation. So, he took care of the problem. Problem solved!

      • I'm pretty sure that policy was around long before Obama...

        You know who has it even worse? People who come from other countries to work in the USA. I don't have any investments back home, but if I did the US government would feel entitled to get a cut from them. I guess the US has been poking their nose into other countries laws enough that now they think it's part of the US.

    • Where are you getting the whole "left to avoid US taxes" thing? Last I heard it was "left to avoid losing $5 million having to pay a lawsuit judgement."

  • My long-term plan was simply to get away from Belize, think, and decide what to do.

    "Decide what to do"? You don't get to decide what to do when you're looking at a murder charge. You get yourself a lawyer (which I assume he has), turn yourself in, and clam up. That's what you do.

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