U.S. judge imposes nine-year term for convicted e-mail spammer
A man convicted in the first U.S. felony prosecution for sending bulk e-mail _ known as spamming _ was sentenced to nine years in prison Friday, but the judge postponed the sentence while the case is appealed.
Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne said that because the law targeting bulk e-mail distribution is new and raises constitutional questions, it was appropriate to defer the prison time until appeals courts rule.
Jeremy Jaynes was convicted in November for using false Internet addresses to send mass e-mail ads through a server of Internet service provider America Online, or AOL.
A jury had recommended the nine-year prison term.
