But on 20 September 1995, the judge showed he couldn't be predicted
quite so easily. Taking everything into account, including Prime
Suspect's sentence and Trax's history of mental illness, he ordered no
conviction be recorded against Trax. He also ordered a $500 three-year
good behaviour bond.
In passing sentence, Judge Kimm said something startlingly insightful
for a judge with little intimate knowledge of the hacker psyche. While
sternly stating that he did not intend to make light of the gravity of
the offences, he told the court that `the factors of specific
deterrence and general deterrence have little importance in the
determination of the sentence to be imposed'. It was perhaps the first
time an Australian judge had recognised that deterrence had little
relevance at the point of collision between hacking and mental
illness.
Trax's sentence was also a good outcome for Mendax, who on
29 August 1995 pleaded guilty to eight counts of computer crime, and
not guilty to all the other charges. Almost a year later, on 9 May
1996, he pleaded guilty to an additional eleven charges, and not
guilty to six. The prosecution dropped all the other charges.
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