From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 1997 09:06:57 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Jim Bell's Sentencing Delayed Again
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19971123005751.006de700@pop.pipeline.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Tim May wrote:

>The several-times delayed sentencing, with no protests from Bell's
>court-appointed lawyer, tells me the Feds are trying to get some final
>details lined up.

Several other possibilities have circulated:

1. Jim's still ill, physically, as indicated by the docket's listing of
a doctor's visit, or psychosomatically, due to the strain of indefinite
incarceration and pressures of interrogation.

2. Jim is not fully cooperating, say, refusing to name others or provide
evidence about his own activities or those of others.

3. Jim's behaving erratically, sometimes cooperative, sometimes
defiant.

4. Jim's drawing out cooperation, negotiating for a better deal, perhaps
with his attorney's advice to do so.

5. Jim is faking it, convincingly, sending the feds off on wild goose 
chases, working with confederates on preplanned ruses.

6. Jim is not what he appears to be, never was, and nobody gets 
what he's up to. The current Jim just another ploy, AP a lure.

7. Finally, no disrespect intended -- first time jail is one shitty experience,
with nightmares of lonely long time sentence worse than most of us 
will ever know -- Jim freaks on sentencing day, shits himself, collapses, 
can't face what's coming, and the court mercifully delays the
day reckoning.

Still, there's a slim chance he's enjoying himself in Seattle or DC, working
an IRS Fortier-ruse on us.