What's Going to Happen to Gary McKinnon?

by Kristina Chew

category: Legal

Published June 08, 2009 @ 02:25PM PT

Gary McKinnon faces extradition from the UK to the US on charges of hacking into 97 computers belonging to NASA, the Department of Defense and several branches of the military after the events of 9/11. If extradited to the US, McKinnon faces a trial of eight counts of computer fraud. He could potentially serve 10 years in jail and pay a $250,000 fine; McKinnon has been fighting his extradition, in the hopes that, if he remains in the UK, he might receive a lighter sentence. In August of 2008, he was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.

Today's Scotsman briefly discusses what has become an "extradition nightmare" for McKinnon, who said:

"It is a living nightmare and it's hard to describe how I've changed physiologically and how it has fundamentally damaged me in many ways I don't even discuss with my own family."

[McKinnon's] legal team are planning to present a case study of another American prisoner with autism, detailing the abuse and beatings he suffered because of his condition, in the hope this will persuade the judges to rethink the extradition.

As the Scotsman notes, a two-day judicial review of McKinnon's extradition order is due to start tomorrow at the High Court in London. This will be his last hope of "avoiding an American trial and a potential prison sentence lasting decades." Computer Weekly further notes why McKinnon should not be extradited to the US and refers to the Human Rights Act:

Medical experts including Simon Baron-Cohen, a renowned Cambridge University autism expert, said in documents sent to the Crown Prosecution Service in December that extradition and long-term incarceration in a US jail could exacerbate his autism, leading to psychosis and even suicide. A UK trial would allow him to be brought to justice within the invaluable support network of his family.

The DPP said he could not prosecute McKinnon in the UK because it did not have the evidence on which to base the prosecution. The 2003 Extradition Act allowed the US to request McKinnon's extradition without supplying prima facie evidence.

The CPS said it could also not consider McKinnon's autism until it had considered the evidence. It approved a US prosecution because that was where the evidence was located. It gave other practical reasons for a US prosecution, but McKinnon challenged the DPP to consider also the "humanitarian" reasons for prosecuting him in the UK, citing the Human Rights Act.