In an unusual turn of events, the United States chief prosecutor Allen Chiu has dismissed a lawsuit against a citizen who profited from modding Xbox so that they'd be able to play pirated games.
At the beginning of the trial ESA undercover agent Tony Rosario testified that he has covertly filmed Crippen modding an Xbox for $60. It seemed that defendant Matthew Crippen is likely to be sentenced for up to 10 years in jail, but then the presiding judge Philip Gutierrez asked the prosecution to prove that Crippen knew that he was violating piracy laws by offering such service.
At that point, prosecutor Allen Chiu told the court that Crippen used a pirated game to show the undercover agent that the modding was successful. This addition was challenged by the defense attorney Koren Bell who noted that there was no evidence to back that claim and that it wasn't formally presented in pretrial motions, and hence it is inadmissible.
Worrying that the likely innocent verdict in the case would set a legal precedence, chief prosecutor Allen Chiu admitted that the government had made errors in the case's preparation and called for it to be dismissed.
