Case Study 04: The Machado Case

Caution!!!
Portions of the case narrative in this case contain extremely
offensive language! Please use judgment in deciding to read
this or in deciding to expose others to reading it.

Richard Machado, at age 19, was the first individual to be convicted of a federal
electronic mail (email) hate crime. Much attention is currently being drawn to the social
and ethical implications surrounding email and Internet usage. The Machado case is one
example of a handful of similar incidents that have occurred since the advent of the
Internet.
On September 20th, 1996, Machado sent a threatening hate message to 59 Asian
students at UCI (University of California at Irvine), via email. The "To:" field in the following
email has been omitted in order to protect the privacy of individual recipients.

Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 10:58:55 -0700

From: "Mother Fucker (Hates Asians)" <mfucker@uci.edu>
To: {recipient list omitted to protect privacy of individuals}
Subject: FUck You Asian Shit

Hey Stupid Fucker

As you can see in the name, I hate Asians, including you.
If it weren’t for asias at UCI, it would be a much more
popular campus. You are responsible for ALL the crimes that
occur on campus. YOU are why I want you and your stupid ass
comrades to get the fuck out ofUCI. IF you don’t I will hunt
you down and kill your stupid asses. Do you hear me? I
personally will make it my life carreer to find and kill
everyone one of you personally. OK?????? That’s how determined
I am.

Get the fuck out,

MOther FUcker (Asian Hater)
 Machado did not receive any immediate response to the email, so he sent it again
within a few minutes. Recipients of the email were alarmed by its content. Several
students emailed the OAC (Office of Academic Computing, formerly–now the NACS, or
Networking and Academic Computing Services) on campus, alerting staff to the incident.
The Associate Director of the OAC, with the assistance of student employees, was able
to identify Machado as the sender. They traced the computer from which the emails were
being sent, and found Machado at that particular computer in the computing lab. Machado
was asked to leave. Surveillance cameras in the computer lab later confirmed that
Machado was in fact the person responsible for the two threatening email messages.
Following the incident, Machado was reported to the University of California, Irvine
Police Department, and an officer was assigned to the case on September 24th, 1996.
On September 28th, the officer telephoned Machado's residence, and left a message
after he was told that Machado was not home. Machado returned the officer's call later
that day, and the two agreed to meet at 5 p.m. When asked about the emails, Machado
reported sending them out of "frustration", because the predominance of Asians on
campus made it less popular, because Asians raised the grading curve, and because he
disliked his Asian roommate. Machado said he felt that Asians "prospered" more in
school, and that he just wanted to scare them a little--he never intended actual physical
harm. Following the meeting, Machado was charged with "knowingly and without
permission using computer services." Machado's trial was set for November 25th, 1996.
Machado then agreed to participate in several public forums in which he apologized for
his action. He attended these forums and did, in fact, apologize at them.
A few days later, Richard Machado received a call from his brother, asking about an
article in the local paper in which Machado was identified as being responsible for an
email hate crime. Machado denied his involvement, claiming that the perpetrator must
have been someone else with a similar name. Shortly thereafter, Machado disappeared.
On November 14th, 1996, a stolen vehicle report was filed at the Police Department for
the City of Irvine. The report described Machado as having taken his roommate's car
without asking. Machado had allegedly told one roommate that he was borrowing the
other roommate's car, and that the other roommate had approved this. The roommate
had not in fact given permission, nor had he been aware that Machado was using the car.
On November 18th, 1996, the FBI joined in aiding the investigation of the stolen car.
An FBI agent appointed to the case went to Machado's residence and was told by
roommates that Machado had not been seen since he had left with his roommate's car
keys on the 14th. Machado had lived at this residence since October 1st, 1996. In that
time, Machado had also been suspected of other incidents: 1) $80 was missing from a
third roommate's coin jar; 2) $154 Visa charges had been made to the roommate's card,
of which $54 were unauthorized phone calls on November 10th, 11th and 12th, 1996.
Between November 21st and 23rd, 1996, the FBI investigated the case by interviewing
the second roommate and Tammy Machado, Richard Machado's sister-in-law. Tammy
was told that if Richard did not appear for his court date on November 25th, 1996, a
warrant for his arrest would be issued. She said that if anyone in the family hears from
Richard, they would encourage him to show up for court.
Machado did not appear at the November 25th court date. A warrant was issued for
his arrest, but the investigation could not proceed in his absence. Finally, on February
6th, 1997, Richard Machado was arrested. A United States Immigrations Inspector caught
Machado attempting to cross the border at Nogalas, Arizona back into the U.S. from
Mexico, where Machado had allegedly been looking for construction work. He later
testified in court that he had fled to Mexico after hearing that he could receive 10 years in
prison for sending the email messages. A United States Customs Inspector was also
present. Machado was reported appearing homeless and without any possessions.
Following the arrest, a new trial date was set for September 16th , 1997. Machado was
charged with 10 counts of violating the Federally Protected Activities Act of 1968 that
makes it a crime to use race, ethnicity or nationality to interfere with a federally protected
activity (in this case, students attending a public university).
On November 11th, 1997, Machado’s actual trial began, but a recess was granted
when new information was uncovered; the court had been presented with questionnaires
that had been given to the victims of Machado’s email, in which 9 of the students said
that they had not been overtly bothered by the email. Thus, the trial was delayed until the
following Wednesday, November 18th. However, the jury was deadlocked on this day, 9
to 3 in favor of acquittal. A mistrial was declared. A second trial was set for January 27th,
1998, when the case was declared to have national importance by federal prosecutors.
A conviction could lead to establishment of legal standards for conduct on the Internet. If
it were successful, it would be the first time a conviction was obtained for a person
committing an email hate crime under federal hate crime laws.
Throughout the trial, various pieces of information concerning Machado’s
background emerged as useful evidence. In the fall of 1995, Machado had sent an email
threat to the New University newspaper at UCI using his roommate’s computer. Although
Machado was traced to be the sender, his roommate allegedly took the blame.
Throughout the following year leading up to his second email hate crime, Machado
experienced some personal problems. His eldest brother was killed in an armed robbery.
His grades were failing as a result of his difficulty dealing with the death, and Machado
was dismissed from school. He continued to tell his parents that he was still a student for
three months, though, because he was the first child in his family to attend college and
felt pressure to do well.
The defense in the trial portrayed Machado as a troubled and bored student who
was simply trying to gain attention by his behavior. Machado’s email looked a great deal
like what are called "flames" in the Internet community (much profanity, lots of capital
letters), and are usually taken as irritating and impolite, but not illegal behavior. The
prosecution pointed out the direct threats of death; the fact that the email was not sent to
a mailing list, but to a group of individuals with Asian names, individually identified; to
Machado’s history of sending email death threats; and to the impact of the threats on the
lives of some of the recipients. The defense pointed out that only 10 of the 49 people took
the threat seriously enough to want to press charges. Several of the recipients had stated,
in response to a police questionnaire, that Machado has a "right to his opinion" and that
the email was "no big deal" to them.
On February 13th, 1998, just 3 weeks from the start of the second trial, Machado
was found guilty on 2 counts of civil rights violations. Following his conviction, Machado
was released on a $10,000 bond from custody, but was soon turned over to Irvine police
on pending auto theft charges. Machado’s sentencing was postponed until April 10th,
1998. He was sentenced to serve1 year in prison. Machado had already spent 1 year in
jail awaiting his trials, and so was free to go. Machado was placed on probation, fined
$1,000, required to attend anger and racial tolerance counseling, was not allowed on the
UCI campus, was to have no contact with the victims, and was banned from computer
usage on the UCI campus. He later violated his probation, and was sentenced to spend
four months in a federal halfway house. At last report, Machado was living in Long Beach
CA (a neighboring community) with his mother and working for a temporary employment
agency.