What will probably happen in this hacking case is that his lawyer will plea bargain down to a single felony for electronic intrusion, maybe getting the government to drop the avalanche of wire fraud charges. In a non-war time, I'd tend to agree with you. However, this "hacking" toggles the Patriot and Homeland flags. You might be right -- that this is how the judge will rule; But after that the dude may be Federal "material".
This kid is in deep serious trouble, for sure.
Federal deep serious trouble.