of the Day: Aaron Swartz' Prosecutor May Have Driven Another Hacker to Suicide

The Daily Mail reports that U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann was involved in a 2008 case that led to the death of another 20-something hacker. The case sought to detain 24-year-old Jonathan James in connection with identity theft crimes involving several massive corporations, which, at the time, was the largest identity theft crime in history. Less than two weeks after Secret Service agents raided his home, James killed himself. Though he left a five-page suicide note claiming innocence, he noted that "certain federal officials" would make him a scapegoat for a crime he did not commit.

Like Swartz, James rose to internet fame as a teenager. In 2000, when he was 16, he was the first juvenile to be federally sentenced to prison for cybercrime after he hacked into the NASA and Defense Department computers for no reason other than "for fun."