Germany’s top court won’t agree to extradite an alleged hacker to the U.S. until it is assured the hacker won’t face a “disproportionate” sentence, if convicted.
The Associated Press reports that the Federal Constitutional Court overturned a lower court’s approval of Ercan Findikoglu’s extradition:
It said Frankfurt’s regional court needs to obtain assurances from U.S. authorities that the defendant won’t face a disproportionate sentence if convicted.
Under German law, a sentence longer than 15 years might be considered “disproportionate,” and I’m guessing the fact that he faces 250 years under U.S. law if one adds up the maximum for each charge he faces may have something to do with their ruling.
Has DOJ shot themselves in the foot by talking about maximum penalties under statutes instead of making clear that most defendants do not draw such extreme sentences and the judge has some discretion? I have not tracked down the source of the 250 years sentencing maximum claim, but it would be interesting to know if this came from a DOJ press release or came from Findikoglu’s attorney.