Juror #11, of Boeing Whistleblower Eastman's Trial, Speaks

Juror #11 In Trial of Boeing Whistleblower, Gerald Eastman, Speaks to Comments About Trial in Seattle PI Reader Posts.

This comment was sent to me today by Juror #11 in Mr. Eastman’s March/April Trial in Seattle -GFS

New comment on your post #85 "Boeing Whistleblower Trial Ends With Hung Jury"

Comment: By Juror # 11:

zinger says "He needs a re-trial and the prosecuting attorney ought to pay a little more attention to whom ends up as a juror. The two no votes ought to have never happened."

You are out of touch with reality zinger. As a requirement of employment ,Eastman was obligated to access the Boeing mainframe and data bases. Once an authorized user gains access to the system or database, the "computer trespass" law, created to prosecute outsiders for breaking into a computer system,  does not apply to that user. Anything an authorized user does after gaining authorized access to the mainframe (where ever it is located), is NOT subject to this law. Yes, Eastman violated company policy, but there is a huge difference between breaking company policy and committing a felony.  Boeing abused it's power by filing a false theft report with the Seattle PD, which resulted in the Theft squad of the Southeast division to obtain a search warrant to raid Eastman's house and confiscated any device with a memory. This was the only way Boeing could recover the files Eastman had archived. Filing a false police report is a felony if memory serves me right. So why did Boeing do it?

In reading the emails Eastman sent to Boeing senior management, in Chigago, he used the letters R.I.C.O. If Eastman was telling the truth, and making false reports to the new owners of the planes and the government bodies is a felony, than Boeing was indeed engaged in a racketeering conspiracy to cover up fraud in the inspection reports.  They went ballistic and used there considerable "juice" to get the Seattle PD (filed a theft report for something which is not against the law in the State of Washington)to recover the files on Eastman home computer and then pressured the elected king co. prosecutor (reportedly sponsored in the election by Boeing) to shop around for a crime they could stick Eastman with. It seems, copying and downloading files from a computer system is only a crime for outside (unauthorized) users. What Eastman did is NOT against the law in Washington State. That's what this whole trial was about. In fact, I came to believe this was an attempt to make copying and

downloading files a crime without going to the legislature to get a law created. Had you been on this jury instead of me, it is likely that today, every employee in the state of Washington would have to be in constant worry that some arbitrary company policy could be used to send the local police to raid their home and confiscate all devices, from cell phones to mp3 players, which contain a memory. This extra legislative attempt to empower employers to terrorize their employees with the threat of criminal treatment for violating company policy is corporate terrorism IMHO.

Filing a false police report is just another example of Boeing's arrogant behavior that not only violated Eastman's State and Federal civil liberties, tried to expand an anti-hacker law to the rest of the employees in the State who have authorized access to their company computers, compromised the king County prosecutors office, while committing another possible RICO offence (filing a false police report). There is no doubt in my mind that a higher court would have reversed a "guilty" decision as the law being over broad. Justice would have been better served with a 12-0 verdict of not guilty. That was the outcome I fought for to send a message to the powerful that what they were doing was unacceptable, still, in the land of the free.

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