So I just finished reading the judgement. The one point that is unclear to me is the charge of violating the CFAA. The secondary charge related to NJ is thoroughly debunked and is the basis of the vacated judgment. But since the CFAA is a federal statute, isn't venue irrelevant since all venues in the case are in the US?
Is this an instance where, now having been vacated on the basis of venue, weev can't be retried with the CFAA? Double jeopardy etc.
1) It's only a felony if the secondary charge is allowed
2) They can retry this if they want, since the judgement was vacated, weev was not acquited or convicted. My understanding is that so long as there weren't certain kinds of prosecutorial misconduct (e.g. the prosecutor intentionally caused a mistrial so they could start over).
3) That being said, retrials are fairly rare, since it's expensive and it tends to look bad for the prosecutors.
The error is a structural one. Due to that fact the entire trial was tainted, not matter what else happened. Thus they can start over.
Just because it's a federal crime doesn't mean he can be tried anywhere. This is exactly what this is all about. That under Federal, and New Jersey, law he has to be tried in one of the places the crime was committed.
Is this an instance where, now having been vacated on the basis of venue, weev can't be retried with the CFAA? Double jeopardy etc.