Judge dismisses female spam-fiend case

DeGroot was accused with brother Jeremy Jaynes of sending thousands of unsolicited marketing emails and making thousands of dollars from the enterprise. Jaynes, 30, had his conviction upheld.

Judge Thomas D. Horne overturned the conviction after deciding that he could find no "rational basis" for upholding the spam conviction. His belief was that the jury became confused with the overly complex and technological nature of Virginian anti-spam law.

Legal experts have suggested that the jury's mistake is likely to be the exception, rather than the rule.

"Juries should generally be able to grasp the spam issue," said Marc Dautlich, media communications and technology solicitor at legal firm Olswang. "I think this case is an exception and this is unlikely to be a recurring problem. Receiving spam is a concept very easy to understand."

In November SC reported an Australian man was jailed for four years under tough Australian anti-spam legislation.

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