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Frederick Seidel's poetry collection "Ooga-Booga" won the 2006 he was the inspiration for the name 'Jonathan Seidel' |
While I continue to compose new posts, here is my latest SUMMARY of the Dead Sea Scrolls trial of Raphael Golb. Not exactly a Reprint, but not totally fresh either.
(NOTE there are 3 other new posts, below, in the last 2 days.)
TRUE or FALSE IRRELEVANT
Did the jury convict Raphael Golb of falsely accusing Dr. Lawrence Schiffman of plagiarism?
No, he was not found guilty of that.
The jury was told that the truth or falsity of of Raphael Golb's accusation of Dr. Schiffman was irrelevant to their decision of "criminality."
The sum total of the "criminal" charges in this trial, as presented to the jury, as I understand it, is simply this:
The disagreement is over what Raphael Golb's intentions were. Did Raphael Golb's intentions match certain definitions of "criminal intent" that were read to the jury before they went in to deliberate.
EMAIL ACCOUNTS NOT USED TO SEND EMAILS
Were Raphael Golb's intentions "criminal" when he opened up email accounts, which he used-
-and in many cases which he did NOT use!
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Six policemen with guns and handcuffs arrested Raphael Golb in his bed, the son of an academic rival. . . . . .for certain emails that he sent perhaps hoping to "obtain a benefit" or perhaps hoping to "annoy," by parodying a professor; And email accounts he opened -including many he never used; And for a name he invented; And for perhaps hoping the professor might not get $650. [But which the professor got.] |
And were Raphael Golb's intentions "criminal" when he sent certain emails "pretending" to be Dr. Lawrence Schiffman- or as Raphael put it, "parodying" Dr. Schiffman.
"PANICKED AND CONFESSIONAL E-MAILS"
The Associated Press article Sep 14 2010 (J. Peltz) describes these emails:
"New York University professor Lawrence Schiffman's students and colleagues started getting panicked and confessional e-mails, in his name, that pointed to blog posts accusing him of plagiarism. Prosecutors say the e-mails and website posts were a hoax created by [Raphael Golb]."
(Of course the "website posts" themselves- accusing Schiffman of plagiarism- were not part of any "hoax"- they were Raphael Golb's deadly serious accusations.)
INTENTIONS NOT "CRIMINAL"
Raphael Golb said his intentions were to criticize Dr. Lawrence Schiffman and colleagues through "satire, irony and parody." Raphael said these intentions are not "criminal"
and his rights are protected. Raphael said he did not intend for people to believe he actually was the people he was criticizing.
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Rikers Island State Penitentiary, NY where Raphael Golb, the son of an academic rival, could be sentenced to 4 years. . . . . .for certain emails that he sent perhaps hoping to "obtain a benefit" or perhaps hoping to "annoy," by parodying a professor; And email accounts he opened -including many he never used; And for a name he invented; And for perhaps hoping the professor might not get $650. [But which the professor got.] |
This is the reason Raphael Golb pleaded Not Guilty:
Raphael agrees that he used the computers, opened up the accounts, and wrote the emails- but he disagrees that his intentions were "criminal."
I discuss these criminal charges at greater length, in other posts.
The District Attorney's office sought up to 4 years for Raphael Golb, upstate in Reikers Island State Penitentiary. And in fact after the sentencing, rather than let Raphael wait for the Appeals office to open in 2 hours, it was ruled that Raphael should be shackled immediately and sent upstate on the very next bus to Rikers Island State Penitentiary. I wonder what horrendous crimes they thought Raphael Golb might have committed in those 2 hours.
I like to compare Raphael Golb's sentence to that of a man I once met who also served 4 years in the same State Penitentiary, for the rape of a woman he noticed jogging along the parkway. The rest was parole.
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Poet Frederick Seidel, in 2006 called "the best American poet writing today" by the New York Sun. Raphael Golb testified that he was the inspiration for the name 'Jonathan Seidel' |
REASONABLE DOUBT- RAPHAEL GOLB DID NOT KNOW A 'JONATHAN SEIDEL'
For one of the names Raphael Golb was charged on (Jonathan Seidel), I show "reasonable doubt" as to whether Raphael Golb did or didn't know there was an actual person by that name, as I demonstrate in these two posts:
I am an English teacher. All my information and interpretations come from what I witnessed at the trial and read online. I took notes at the trial as best I could, and have looked for as much online as I can; but I do not always understand the nuances in law, or scholarship. If you see errors, please drop me a line.
