Swartz would need to plead guilty to every count, and the government would insist on prison time."

Heymann, who has stayed silent since Swartz’s suicide out of "respect" for the family, has come under fire due to his role in Swartz’s death and his role in the death of another internet activist. "Back in 2008, another young hacker, Jonathan James, killed himself after being named a suspect in another Heymann case," reported BuzzFeed.

Heymann was "very intransigent," Swartz's lawyer Peters told the Huffington Post. "It was his philosophy that as you got closer to trial the plea offers only got worse. But the offer he was making was so unreasonable that having it get worse didn't concern me much."

The Huffington Post also reports that, according to Peters, "Heymann had harassed several of the activist’s friends into testifying before a grand jury."

"The people who really lost their way here and turned it into a much bigger case than it should have been were the feds," said Peters.

*** Alex Kane is AlterNet's New York-based World editor, and an assistant editor for Mondoweiss.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/federal-prosecutor-stephen-heymann-wanted-juicy-case-publicity-and-found-it-aaron