This doesn't feel like enough to discourage others from doing this, so what's even the point? Accessory to murder is 15 months now? Someone died from this! Also, what about the cop who shot him?
1) if possible, shouldn't the court mete out the death sentence, instead of Judge Dredd, I mean, the police.
2) even from a completely tactical viewpoint, if you are dealing with more than one hostage taker, and you shot one of them, wouldn't you suspect the remaining hostage takers could get a little spooked?
With all the blame being placed on the person who placed the call, I don't have any faith that this same situation won't be repeated in the future either.
The person who made the call was sentenced to twenty years. The person who got 15 months is the one who paid the other person to make the call, not the person who made the call.
The guy got 20 years. When he was in the temporary holding jail he gained access to the internet and was still tweeting about swatting people. This was BEFORE his sentencing. Absolutely moronic and showed zero remorse.
"Hmm, this guy in Call of Duty made me mad because he kept winning. Should I do something that puts me in prison for 15 years to get back at him? nah... Should I hire someone to do something that puts me in prison for over a year to get back at him? nah..."
"Should I hire someone do something that puts me in prison for over a year to get back at him"
Prior to this whole case playing out, I would have assumed "going to jail" would be an extremely likely outcome for the crime of swatting, especially if it had the (intended?) effect of killing the person involved.