Jeremy Jaynes, 30, from North Carolina, was found guilty in
November of violating a newly-enacted Virginia law, the first in
the US to introduce custodial sentences for the worst spam
offenders.
Jaynes, together with his sister, Jessica DeGroot, and a third
defendant, Richard Rutkowski, had been accused of sending out
millions of junk e-mail messages in July and August 2003 through an
AOL server based in Virginia.
According to reports, Jaynes was earning around $750,000
(£398,000) per month from spamming.
In November, the Virginia jury recommended that Jaynes, also
known as Gaven Stubberfield, serve nine years in prison and that
DeGroot be fined $7,500. Rutkowski was acquitted.
Trial Judge Thomas Horne dismissed DeGroot's conviction in
March this year, on the grounds that the jurors may have been
confused by the technical terms in the state's new laws.
According to the Washington Post, Judge Horne confirmed the
nine-year sentence for Jaynes but postponed its effect pending the
appeal because the legislation is new and raises "substantial legal
issues".
