Yeshiva World reports that a long running prosecution of a literature scholar (who is also now a disbarred lawyer) has ended without a jail sentence for the defendant who was charged with online impersonation growing out of an academic dispute over authorship of the Dead Sea Scrolls:
Raphael Golb’s conviction wasn’t quite like any other: using online aliases to discredit his father’s adversary in a scholarly debate over the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The 9-year-old case got a New York law thrown out and finally ended Monday with no jail time for Golb, who persuaded a judge to sentence him to three years’ probation rather than two months in jail.
Appeals had put the jail term on hold and narrowed the counts in his criminal impersonation and forgery conviction in a curious case of ancient religious texts, digital misdeeds, academic rivalries and filial loyalty.
"Obviously, I’m relieved not to be going to jail,” Golb said, adding that he remains concerned by having been prosecuted for online activity he said was meant as satire."
