Alleged eBay hacker wants lawyer back

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-821582.html

By Robert Lemos 
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 23, 2002, 6:40 PM PT

SAN JOSE, Calif.--The case of the alleged eBay hacker took another
plot twist Wednesday afternoon when the former Los Alamos National
Laboratory employee asked to have his lawyer back just hours after
dismissing her.

In the past week, Jerome T. Heckenkamp--accused of breaking into the
computer network of eBay, Exodus Communications and other
companies--has filed to put himself back into federal custody, asked
to dismiss his attorney, noted cyber lawyer Jennifer Granick, and now
has requested that she be allowed to represent him once more.

"We've had a change in circumstance again," U.S. District Court Judge
Patricia V. Trumbull said dryly, when Heckenkamp, 22, returned to the
front of the courtroom after a three-hour recess.

Standing in the U.S. District Court of Northern California in the
orange and gray togs of the Santa Clara County Department of
Corrections, Heckenkamp said he had decided that he could work with
Granick after all.

"We can both play an active role in my case," he said. "If I can have
an active role as I want, then we can work together."

Granick, the clinical director at Stanford University's Center for
Internet and Society, wasn't present at the afternoon hearing, but
said in an e-mail that she and Heckenkamp plan to work as a team.

"He realized that his lawyer will present his best defense more
effectively than he'd be able to do alone," she said.

Heckenkamp has been charged with seven counts of accessing computers
without authorization and eight counts of intercepting computer
communications. The charges stem from intrusions by a hacker known as
MagicFX into the networks at eBay, Exodus, Juniper, Lycos, E*Trade and
Cygnus throughout 1999, according to an indictment filed in December
2000.

The indictment claims that Heckenkamp is MagicFX.

In addition to the 15 charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the
Northern District of California charged Heckenkamp with witness
tampering. Heckenkamp has also been indicted by the U.S. Attorney's
Office for the Southern District of California in San Diego on 10
additional charges of computer intrusion.

The separate charges in two venues has complicated Heckenkamp's
defense. The $50,000 bail posted by a friend covers his release in
both venues, but even if Heckenkamp gets Judge Trumbull's release of
the money, he will have to repeat the efforts in San Diego as well.

Heckenkamp's change of mind derailed his efforts to talk his way to
freedom without bail. The arguments on the issue, slated for that
afternoon, got pushed back to the next morning, when his reinstated
attorney could once again be present.



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