Aaron Swartz, arrested in January 2011, committed suicide a year ago while waiting trial on charges filed against him by the US Attorney’s Office in Boston. He was facing up to 50 years in prison for entering onto MIT’s premises and taking from MIT’s computer academic files maintained by JSTOR. MIT offered JSTOR files for sale to the public. Aaron believed these documents were paid for by the taxpayer and should be free.

Aaron was, by all accounts, brilliant, inventive and revolutionary. He had been and would continue to have been a treasured asset of the United States for his knowledge and skills. Those who knew him best described him as having , “insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; . . . his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable’ made the world and their lives ‘far brighter.’ “

He committed a crime because he believed that things weren't right. His intent was not malicious and he had no desire of personal gain of any kind involved in his act. U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s Boston office used its powers to indict piled up on him charges that made him face 50 years in prison (initially it was 35 but as they got closer to trial, the penalty increased to 50 years) and $1,000,000 fine.

Aaron was a brilliant young man, engaged in what he believed nothing more or less than a prank to make a point and now he was being unfairly coerced. Aaron was thrown into the world of lawyers whose bluster and bullying caused him to believe that he faced a real possibility of spending many years in prison among the worst people in our society where he would be deprived of what he most valued, his freedom to create.

But here’s the worst part, Aaron was not really facing the 50 years the prosecutors piled on him. The prosecutors unreasonably and unfairly pile on crimes against him to force him to enter a plea of guilty because if he didn't plea and continued to assert that he didn't commit a crime, they would seek to punish to the full extent of the law.

If he threw in the towel and plead guilty, he was going to have to do 6 months in prison and pay a one million dollar fine according to his lawyer. He faced these two options even though the victim, JSTOR, had asked the prosecutors that the charges be dropped in July, 2011.

The prosecutors did not stop but instead ratcheted up the pressure. The prosecutors, either at the behest of MIT (which MIT denies) or by themselves pressuring MIT, kept the case moving forward to trial.

Why were the prosecutors going to all this trouble of harassing this highly skilled and extraordinary young man even after the victim asked them to stop? Why continue when they only believed that he actually deserved six months in jail? Why pile on charges so that they scare the sh*t out of someone who could make a real difference in all of our lives?

What did they seek to prove? Did on one in the U.S. Attorneys’ office stop to ask what would be gained by sending this young man to jail?

Sadly, justice was not a concern. The prosecutors wanted to ensure that they won. For whatever reason, they wanted to hear Aaron say he was guilty. They knew they had all the power and the resources so that they could bully and overpower Aaron until they got what they wanted.

The government didn't want justice. They didn't want the right punishment for someone who took out too many books under his paid subscription. They didn't want the right punishment for someone who thought the world should be benefitting from all of these academic journals that are only available to the few.

They just wanted to use the power and the cards that are unfairly stacked in their favor to bully and push Aaron around so they could prevail on their terms. Maybe they wanted to prove they were better and smarter Aaron? But, whatever the reason of the overzealous prosecution, we all came out the losers.

Aaron’s death at such a young age is a huge loss to America as the loss of any person with his brilliance and zeal would be. We can only hope that the Department of Justice and U.S Attorneys across the country recognize it and remember what justice really is.