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From:      Moderators
Subject:   Riggs, Darden, and Grant Sentenced
Date:      17 November, 1990

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***  CuD #2.12: File 3 of 9: Riggs, Darden and Grant Sentenced   ***
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Robert J. Riggs (The Prophet), Franklin E. Darden, Jr. (The Leftist), and
Adam E. Grant (The Urville) were sentenced in Atlanta Friday, November 16.
All were given prison terms. Riggs was sentenced to 21 months.  Grant and
Darden were given 14 months each, half of which may be served in a half-way
house. Additional provisions include supervision and prohibitions on
computer use.  In addition, each was ordered to repay $230,000 restitution.
Darden and Grant report for sentencing on January 4, 1991, and Riggs on
February 15.  According to previous news reports, under the plea
arrangement Riggs could have been sentences to 15 years and a fine of up to
$500,000.  Grant and Darden could have received up to 5 years in prison and
fines of up to $250,000.

Because the three pled guilty, the evidence against them is not public.
Yet, the both the prison sentence and the restitution seem harsh.  Riggs,
presumably, received a heavier sentence because of a prior offense and
because the charge to which he pled guilty carried a more severe sentence.
But, according to reports, his cooperation with law enforcement and his
testimony against Craig Neidorf would be taken into consideration during
the testimony.

Did the actions of the three cause $700,000 worth of damages, or is the
figure intended to be a "message" to others? If the former, one wonders
what they possible could have done to create such mischief, because the
original indictment mentions nothing about concrete damages, and we have
already seem how Bell is willing to inflate costs. If the amount of
restitution was intended as a message, it is successful. But, it sends an
inintended message: The judicial system is wacky! If each repays $4,000 a
year, they may be paying out of their social security well into their 70s.
If each repays it within 25 years ($9,300 a year), they are effectively
saddled with a "second mortgage" before even launching their lives.  They
will emerge from prison faced with obstacles that even the most hardened
criminals do not endure.

Prison time also seems inappropriate. The so-called "tough on crime"
mentality of the past decade has created an explosion in the nation's
prison population. Since 1980, the nation's prison population has more than
doubled, increasing from about 329,821 in 1980 to almost 800,000 in
November of 1990. Tossing people in prison is not, for non-violent crimes,
particularly cost-effective, and there is no agreement on the deterrent
effect of prisons. For relatively minor white collar crimes, such as those
commited by the "Atlanta Three," prison seems both unnecessary and unjust,
and tax-payers foot the bill.

There is apparently little the three can do about the sentence. But the
rest of us can join in the tasks of lobbying for saner laws and sentences
that better fit the "crime" than does incarceration, while simultaneously
working to curtail computer abuse.

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