And the defence team couldn't be happier. Kelman told
journalists, `The jury felt this was a sledge hammer being used to
crack a nut'.8
The prosecution was stunned and the law enforcement agents
flabbergasted. Detective Sergeant Barry Donovan found the verdict
bizarre. No other case in his 21 years in law enforcement had as much
overwhelming evidence as this one, yet the jury had let Wandii walk.
And in a high-pitched frenzy rivalling its earlier hysteria, the
British media jumped all over the jury's decision. `Hacker who ravaged
systems walks free', an indignant Guardian announced. `Computer Genius
is cleared of hacking conspiracy', said the Evening Standard. `Hacking
"addict" acquitted', sniffed The Times. Overpowering them all was the
Daily Telegraph's page one: `Teenage computer addict who hacked White
House system is cleared'.
Then came the media king-hit. Someone had leaked another story and it
looked bad. The report, in the Mail on Sunday, said that the three
hackers had broken into a Cray computer at the European Centre for
Medium Range Weather Forecasting at Bracknell. This computer, likes
dozens of others, would normally have been relegated to the long list
of unmentioned victims except for one thing.
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