Reading email = felony

Man charged with felony for reading his wife's e-mail to track an affair

A Michigan man faces up to 5 years in prison for reading his wife's e-mail to find out if she was having an affair, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Really??

Elitist reporter note: Unless we are talking about age or measurements, AP style dictates that we spell out a number less than 10. One could argue that this is a measurement though … but I beg to differ.

The newspaper says Leon Walker, 33, of Rochester Hills, has been charged with a felony after reading Clara Walker's Gmail account on a laptop the now-divorced couple shared. He goes to trial in February.
A felony? For reading e-mail that she didn’t keep very secure? On a laptop the two shared? Are you freakin’ kidding me?

Oakland County prosecutors used a state statute typically used to prosecute crimes like identity theft or stealing trade secrets, the newspaper says.
Uhh, this does not hardly compare to identity theft or stealing trade secrets.

Leon, Clara Walker's third husband, found out in an e-mail that she was having an affair with her second husband, who was once arrested for beating her in front of her small son. Leon Walker showed the e-mail to that son's father, Clara's first husband, who filed an emergency motion to obtain custody.
"I was doing what I had to do," Leon Walker, a computer technician, tells the Free Press. "We're talking about putting a child in danger."
I think he was right. How could he live with himself if something happened to that kid and he could have prevented it? Even if it does mean admitting he read e-mail he shouldn’t have? I mean, it’s not like he confronted her about said affair with the e-mail, he used the knowledge to protect his stepson, which I think is a grand gesture and he does not deserve five years and a felony on his record for that.

Elitist reporter note: I had to read that paragraph multiple times before it made sense to me. It should have been written differently.

Oakland County prosecutor Jessica Cooper, in a voice mail to the newspaper, calls Walker a skilled "hacker" who used his wife's e-mail "in a contentious way."
A skilled hacker? Really? In a contentious way? Really? He tried to save your kid, you selfish moron.

In preliminary testimony, Clara testified that while Leon had bought her that laptop, it was hers alone and that she kept the password a secret.
Scott bought my laptop for me, but he’s used it. I mean, I have passwords for various things on it – and yeah, I do so because there are times I’m hiding things. Like if I ordered him something for Christmas and I get the receipts and tracking information sent to my e-mail account. Or I don’t want him to see my browsing history so he doesn’t figure out his present.

Grammar Nazi note: The sentence would have lost no meaning if the word "had" was removed ... "Clara testified that while Leon bought her that laptop..."

Leon Walker says he routinely used the computer and that she kept all of her passwords in a small book next to it. "It was a family computer," he says. "I did work on it all the time."
How the hell is he a “skilled hacker” if she keeps her passwords in the book next to the computer? She deserves time in jail for being a moron. And if he used it for work all the time, how can she claim it was hers alone? Something is not adding up here, but it seems the sum is five years in prison. What a shame.

You know the saddest part? She’s doing this because he obviously got her on infidelity in the divorce, so she’s trying to get something on him. How pathetic. He busted you, deal with it.