Hacker News Reader

Comment by ThinkBeat | Hacker News Reader

That seems unusually harsh.

A lot of violent rapes get less of a sentence.

I thought the same until I read the article. The headline is pretty crap tbh. It wasn't a normal domain hijacking, he sent in an armed accomplice who pointed his gun at the victims head and threatened to kill him if he didn't transfer it. The victim was injured during a struggle and the accomplice was shot dead.

The accomplice is not dead. He has a 20 year sentence.

That info is not mentioned in this article, merely that he was shot multiple times in the chest, then is never mentioned again.

I think they switched articles. It was there when I read it the first time. It's not the same article when I go back to the link. Something definitely changed.

Petty crimes can exponentially escalate if some particular aggravants are present. Example:

1. Steal something from a store. 2. Bring a gun. 3. Show it. 4. Discharge it. 5. Injure someone. 6. Kill someone.

Each of these things make your punishment much harsher, even if your initial thing was to just steal a chocolate bar (1).

Conspiracy gets you the same amount of time as the perpetrator. Gun escalation adds at minimum 5 more years. Concurrently, this sounds about right.

Of course this guy is an idiot. The victim bought the domain around the same time he started his “brand” so he may have been squatting. File a trademark and be done with it.

Considering he used it for legitimate purposes (according to the article) that would likely be a mute point, especially if the did not operate in the same entrepreneurial space.

It sounds like he was using it to promote concerts which seems similar enough to how the main "do it for state" guy was using it to promote parties in the same town. He likely could have gotten it from a trademark suit but was probably too dumb to realize that.

In order to file a trademark suit, you need a trademark, and it does not retroactively cover other existing competitors using similar terms.

moot point, not mute.

It also sounds like the person he commissioned to commit the crime was killed in the course of the crime and the victim was also shot in the leg!

It is clearly stated that he survived the gunshots

I must be missing it, the last thing I see about the situation is

> The victim shot Hopkins multiple times in the chest. He then contacted law enforcement.

Without excusing the article for confusing several people and requiring follow up research to answer an obviously related question, in my experience if someone dies it will almost-always be explicitly stated in the article; newspapers are far more like to remember to say "shot and killed" or "shot... killing him instantly" or "died of his injuries", and far more likely to cut a sentence about an auxiliary party's recovery when editing.

justice.gov isn't a newspaper.

This is a lesson for would-be violent extortionists: .22 is not an intimidating caliber.

It is clear that the victim survived his gunshots but Hopkins' fate is not mentioned in the press release linked. It turns out he did survive and got a 20 year sentence.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndia/pr/cedar-rapids-felon-sent...

How was this comment downvoted?

If I understand the article properly he threatened someone at gunpoint! That's a serious crime.

> I'm certain he's also criminally liable for the victim getting shot in the leg.

I missed that.

Yeah this article discusses an armed robbery where a firearm was discharged and someone was injured. That is a serious crime that upon conviction results in a serious sentence in any jurisdiction.

I'm certain he's also criminally liable for the victim getting shot in the leg.

It's a violent crime with a lot of premeditation.

Armed database robbery.

had to be done for the state ;0

The most bizarre aspect of this is that all of this happened around Iowa State... the most minor-league podunk school in the Big Twelve (there are two lies in that name). Social media pornographers should aim higher than that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com