A local judge wants to review a defense challenge to Virginia’s anti-spam law, often considered the toughest in the United States, after two North Carolina siblings were convicted of flushing millions of spam messages to customers of then Virginia-based America Online.
Jeremy Jaynes – considered by anti-spam group Spamhaus to be the world’s eighth most prolific spammer – was recommended by a jury to nine years behind bars with his sister, Jessica DeGroot, recommended to a $7,500 fine in the case, which Jaynes attorney David Oblon and DeGroot attorney Tom Mulrine vowed to fight to overturn.
But Judge Thomas Horne said he might take another look at the tough Virginia spam law even as he rejected an Oblon motion to strike all charges against Jayne. Oblon had argued Virginia had no jurisdiction because the siblings were based in North Carolina, but Virginia’s law allowed the charges because America Online was headquartered in the state.
Prosecutors insist any spam sent through any Virginia networks equals a violation of the state law, which took effect last year. A hearing is set for January, while a spokesman for state Attorney General Jerry Kilgore told reporters that would not affect their “successful convictions.”
Jaynes and DeGroot were accused of sending their spam on three occasions between mid-July and early August 2003, as well as falsified routing information that obscured the actual senders of the spam. Spam in Virginia under the new law can get you up to 15 years behind bars.
