Computer sabotage case returns to court

By SHARON GAUDIN
Network World, 04/23/01

PHILADELPHIA - The government took up the battle in court last week to reinstate a guilty verdict for the first criminal prosecution of computer sabotage.

Tim Lloyd, 37, of Wilmington, Del., was found guilty last spring of planting a software time bomb in a centralized file server at Omega Engineering's Bridgeport, N.J., manufacturing plant (see story). The malicious software code destroyed the programs that ran the company's manufacturing machines, costing Omega more than $10 million in losses, $2 million in reprogramming costs, and eventually leading to 80 layoffs.

Just a few months after the jury rendered a guilty verdict in a U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., The Hon. William H. Walls, who presided over the four-week trial, set aside the decision. He did so after a juror who heard the case approached the court with concerns days after the guilty verdict had been handed in. (see story)

The government was in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals contending that the District Court judge overstepped legal protocol and "abused his discretion" when interviewing the juror who came forward. Based on that, the government maintains the judge incorrectly set aside the jury's guilty verdict and sent the case back to be retried.

The defense, however, argued in front of the three-person appellate panel that the juror had received information outside of the courtroom that could have inappropriately swayed her decision, so the judge was correct in setting aside the verdict.

The juror at issue told Walls she was unsure whether a television news story about the LoveLetter computer virus had been factored into her verdict, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney V. Grady O'Malley, who prosecuted the case. "Although she couldn't articulate what impact it had, she simply made the statement that she was unsure about whether it was important to bring to the court's attention," O'Malley said in a previous interview.

A written decision is expected in about a month. If the guilty verdict is reengaged, Lloyd will face up to five years in federal prison.