14 DAY TRIAL // Jammie Thomas, the 30-year-old woman who was accused for distributing pirated music on the web, could receive a $3.6 million fine instead of the $222,000 which she actually received. In case you missed the news, several record companies such as Warner Bros. Records and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, sent Jammie to the judge because she shared lots of pirated songs on the web using Kazaa. Although the woman sustained she never used such an application, she's now forced to pay the fine mentioned above.
Lisa Reinke, 41-year-old juror, told the Associated Press that some of her colleagues wanted to impose the maximum fine of $150,000 per song which means a total of no less than $3.6 million.
The deliberations were somehow similar to the ones we see in movies because every juror had to write a certain fine on a piece of paper and put it on the table. Lisa Reinke sustained some of them requested the maximum fine but, because the woman could not afford it, they chose a a penalty of $220,000.
"A few said we could go up to 150 (thousand), and then other people said, 'No, that's way too high. We just all discussed it and gave our views and came up with an agreeable amount. You go too low, it's not going to stop the illegal downloading of music. People are going to think, 'I could do this, I could go through federal court and get off cheap," the juror said for the Associated Press.
Jammie Thomas recently announced she decided to appeal the judge's decision as she never used a file-sharing application on her computer. Moreover, Jammie's lawyer demanded a small fine because his client earns only $36,000 per year.