Travis reports on the federal prosecutor's sentencing memorandum in the Denning McTague (aka Thieving Intern) case. I agree entirely with Travis' characterization of the memo's first paragraph: almost all "fantastic ... Right up until the last sentence."
"Defendant Denning McTague, a thief, stole American history. Although educated in history and raised surrounded by historical documents in his mother’s antiquarian business, McTague did not steal these 164 documents from the National Archives because he cherished the importance of the historical event or the character of the document’s author. No, McTague stole the items to place them for sale on ebay, that is to make money. McTague used his knowledge and skills to take advantage of an opportunity and the people that trusted him at the National Archives. For these reasons, as well as for the reasons provided below, the government recommends a sentence of incarceration within the advisory guideline range of 12 to 18 months."
Travis notes "While this doesn't come as a surprise, it still stings a little to see it written out." He's got some more observations about the brief, which includes some Word-induced typographical anomalies (that is, obnoxious manifestations of the auto-correct feature).
The defense brief isn't out yet, but will certainly call for less jail time (or probably none at all); perhaps they'll take a page from the Smiley judge's book and ask for less than a week, since McTague says he snatched all the documents over the course of two days.
McTague's sentencing is set for 12 July at 2:30 p.m.
[Updated to change McDade to McTague in two spots. Sorry Travis!]
