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Are federal prosecutors over-charging the Somali pirate?

By Douglas A. Berman

This recent AP article has me wondering if federal prosecutors should be accused of "over-charging" the Somali pirate (and also wondering if anyone really cares if they are).  Here are excerpts from an interesting piece, which is headlined "Prosecutors beefed up charges against scrawny teen": When U.S. prosecutors brought piracy charges against a teenager from Somalia, they dusted off a law that has been on the books since George Washington was president and used only sparingly since then. The law's obscurity, the lack of recent precedent and murky definitions of what constitutes piracy could present challenges to law enforcement. But prosecutors also boosted their case with more common nonpiracy charges that could lead to a long prison sentence, even if the piracy count doesn't stick...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 23, 2009 (boomark / email).