Confessed map thief E. Forbes Smiley will be sentenced on September 27, and this week has seen some new calls for a more severe punishment. The New York Times reports today that Robert Goldman, the lawyer for the British Library, has requested that judges impose a sentence of at least 78-97 months jail time on Smiley, rather than the 57-71 months agreed to by Smiley's lawyers and prosecutors.
Goldman's pleading suggests that federal sentencing guidelines "substantially understate the seriousness of the offense," and concludes that "The case of United States v. Smiley has made painfully clear that Smiley created his marketplace and built his inventory through the systematic looting of the world’s great libraries."
Smiley attorney Richard Reeve called the BL's plea "very interesting, but the reality is that map has been recovered. It’s going back to the British Library." He added that Goldman "ignores a central part of this case, which is that the libraries are getting back maps that they would never have gotten were it not for Mr. Smiley’s cooperation." Uh, Mr. Reeve, I think you're ignoring a central part of this case: the maps would never have left the libraries without the nefarious and illegal actions of your sleazeball client.
The Associated Press and Hartford Courant have similar articles. The Courant also has a Smiley timeline.
