The first trial of defendant Jammie Thomas-Rasset took place in 2005 when plaintiffs alleged that on Februay 21, 2005, Thomas-Rasset shared a total of 1,702 tracks online through peer-to-peer networks. The plaintiffs, however, sought relief for only 24 of these songs. Two years later, the jury returned a verdict finding Jammie Thomas-Rasset liable for willful infringement. The plaintiffs sought relief for only 24 songs she had downloaded and charged Thomas-Rasset $9,250 per song, a total fine of $222,000. In a second trial last year, a different jury found Thomas-Rasset guilty again, and chose to award her $1,920,000 in statutory damages. Now, a Minnesota District Court judge has altered the charges a third time after declaring the fine of $80,000 per song to be "simply shocking" and "downright unconstitutional."

Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a Native American mother of four from Brainerd, Minnesota now faces new charges for her musical "piracy" of 24 songs. In a decision announced today, Judge Michael Davis dropped the penalty from $80,000 per song to $2,250 per song. A 97% drop from the previous sentence, this makes up a grand total of $54,000 owed for the downloaded songs by such bands as Aerosmith, Green Day, and Guns N' Roses. "The major labels involved in the case and the RIAA now have seven days to decide whether to accept this fine or let Thomas-Rasset go to trial for a third time." One of the musicians being "hurt" by her downloading, pop-rock musician Richard Marx, says he was "ashamed" that he was involved in the unlawful case against the Minnesota mom. He called the $1.92 million fine to be "misguided and at worst, farcical." Obviously, Thomas-Rasset is not the only "pirate" involved.