I'm not so sure about that. Imagine the terrible precedent you'd set. EDIT: Risk aversion is sometimes toxic to society.
If you're talking about piling on charges to make a plea deal look attractive, I'm pretty sure that's been done before.
I disagree, mainly because this case is an asymmetric risk scenario - his gains from pleading not guilty are extremely miniscule when compared to his losses(compared to the 100 days he'd have to spend in jail, if he were to plead guilty).
If it's hazy about whether what they did was a crime, that's a different matter though. And it's a little frustrating to see prosecutors trump up charges to get an easy plea bargain. Maybe there should be some limit between the max sentence and the min plea sentence, so that they can't throw 50-year threats around without at least a 5-year plea bargain.
I don't see why being a white male hacker makes Barret Brown a special case. If anything, it's a good sign that a white male is being subjected to the same overhanded treatment that minorities have to deal with, because it makes people aware of the problem and creates pressure to fix the system.
I don't think I would be that idealistic or generous.
Same with cops asking for anything else at gunpoint etc.