The US government wanted a speedy resolution of its case
against a self-confessed British hacker because it was embarrassed
by the ease with which he was able to access federal computer
systems, the House of Lords heard yesterday.
Gary McKinnon is appealing
a decision by former home secretary John Reid to extradite him to
the US to face charges that he illegally accessed 73,000 US
government computers, including the US Army, Navy and NASA.
He is accused of deleting files and disrupting military networks
in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and causing damage
worth £450,000.
Plea-bargain deal
Gary McKinnon claims that the US offered him a plea-bargain deal
that amounted to coercion and an abuse of the extradition process
in an attempt to settle the case quickly.
But
Clare Montgomery QC, for the US, told the lords that the plea
bargain offered to McKinnon gave all parties many benefits,
including a speedy resolution.
She said the case was embarrassing to US security because it
showed how easy it had been to penetrate US federal systems. She
denied suggestions that US prosecutors had overstepped a "bright
line" between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in putting
McKinnon under pressure to agree a plea bargain.
"There were no innocents abroad here being led astray," she
said. "This was a negotiation that Mr McKinnon facilitated."
Threat of death penalty
Montgomery referred to claims that
Ed Gibson, then a legal attache at the US London embassy and
now a legal adviser to Microsoft UK, had threatened to see that
McKinnon "fried".
Legal counsel would have told McKinnnon that the charges did not
carry the death penalty, and that he should construe it as "the
exaggerated expression of prosecutorial displeasure", she said.
The lords are expected to take three weeks to deliver their
judgment. If they decide for McKinnon, the defence has asked that
the case return to the magistrate's court.
If the appeal fails, McKinnon will be extradited to stand trial
in the US.
Edward Fitzgerald, acting for human rights watchdog Liberty in
support of McKinnon, said the defence would apply for leave to
appeal the case in the European Court of Human Rights.
The British taxpayer is paying all costs, including those of the
US government. Costs so far are estimated at close to £900,000.
McKinnon admits he entered the systems without authorisation, but
denies he caused damage on the scale claimed.
Five British law lords heard arguments yesterday from McKinnon's
representatives, and from Crown Prosection Service counsel, acting
for the US government.
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