A jury in Minneapolis has decided on a third fine for illegal downloader Jammie Thomas-Rasset- the Minnesota woman was originally fined $1.92 million for downloading 24 songs .
The RIAA has offered twice to settle the case , once for $222,000 and once for $25,000, but Thomas-Rasset rejected both offers. The RIAA again gloated in a statement over the newest exorbitant, arbitrary fee, which works out to about $62,000 per song the defendant allegedly downloaded:
“We are again thankful to the jury for its service in this matter and that they recognized the severity of the defendant’s misconduct,” the RIAA said in a statement. “Now with three jury decisions behind us along with a clear affirmation of Ms. Thomas-Rasset’s willful liability, it is our hope that she finally accepts responsibility for her actions.”
The third time around, the fine doesn’t seem any more reasonable or proportionate to the crime of which Thomas-Rasset stands accused. (Steven broke down the fines for downloading versus those for murder or dogfighting a while back.) Thomas-Rasset’s lawyers have vowed again to fight back, and a judge in a previous case did deem the original fine of near $2m to be “monstrous and shocking.” It was then that the RIAA offered the defendant the $25K settlement, but only if she agreed to request that the judge remove the decision from the record. She refused.
