I don’t condone the actions of hackers, but this was one smart dude. Todd M. Miller was suspected and accused of participating in the group that brought down Sony’s online game servers back in 2008. He potentially faced 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, both of which he dodged by destroying his machines and disposing of his hard drives before the FBI could come back with a search warrant.

He was, however, sentenced to a year of house arrest, three years of probation, and ordered to complete a high-school equivalent certificate for obstructing a federal investigation. That’s a much better deal than he would’ve gotten if he was proven guilty in the hacking case.

The judge, who presided over the 28-year-old’s case, said that he could ‘see no sense’ in sentencing him to prison since Miller had a troubled childhood and now had a stable job. Miller admitted in court that he was “immature and ignorant and caught up with the wrong people at the wrong time,” and that “[the judge] would never see [Miller] again.”