The lineup of people to testify in the sentencing of the 28-year-old so-called King of Spam is so long that it will require an unusual two-day hearing beginning Friday in federal court.

Robert Alan Soloway, only the second person to be convicted of criminal spamming under the 2004 "Can-Spam" law, pleaded guilty in March to single counts of mail and e-mail fraud, and to tax evasion.

The plea was entered 10 days before his trial was to begin on 37 more counts, including multiple counts of those crimes as well as wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

In the government's sentencing memorandum filed Monday, Soloway is said to stand out "worldwide for the volume and markedly malicious nature of his criminal spamming activity; the fraudulent 'spam promotion' sales scheme associated with it; and for brazen and even boastful claims that he is above the law and anyone -- even federal judges -- who would dare attempt to seek his compliance with it."

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman is expected to sentence Soloway following the conclusion of testimony slated for Monday.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and more than $500,000 in fines.

Prosecutors Kathryn Warma and Richard Cohen, both assistant U.S. attorneys for Western Washington, have asked for nine years in prison and a stiff fine in the $400,000 to $1 million range.

Soloway's attorney, Seattle lawyer Richard Troberman, responded with a recommendation of two years in prison at the Federal Prison Camp in Sheridan, Ore., and a less severe fine under $100,000.

Troberman argues that the government's recommendation is disproportionate to the crime and wants Pechman to consider that his client suffers from behavior-altering conditions -- Tourette's syndrome, attention-deficit disorder and "oppositional defiant disorder" -- for which he takes medication.

Federal prosecutors sought the two-day hearing to provide experts, witnesses and victims from around the nation and overseas to explain the technologies and evidence schemes in light of the 2004 law, and demonstrate how victims were affected between 2003 and 2007.

Victims, who include a businessman from England, are expected to testify first. Others include an Oklahoma man who never saw a penny of a $10 million judgment he won against Soloway in 2005; FBI and private computer analysts and security experts; and Adam Sweaney, who is himself awaiting sentencing on federal criminal spamming charges.

Sweaney, court papers say, will testify that Soloway rented a network of hacked computers, also known as a "bot net," to expedite bulk e-mail, or spam.

Soloway ran afoul of the Can-Spam Act by falsifying the header information in his e-mail messages to get around spam filters, investigators have said. That was done by using a program that automatically substituted the e-mail recipient's name for Soloway's, causing messages to appear as though recipients had sent them to themselves.

Investigators earlier this year said Soloway used software called Dark Mailer, which allows users to tap into a network of proxy computers to send spam anonymously.

Soloway, who is internationally reviled by anti-spam groups, sent more than 90 million e-mails in three months through just two of the servers he used, investigators said.

In his written response to the government's recommendation, however, Troberman argues that the federal case, as well as some victims' claims, are overblown.

"Without question Mr. Soloway has been a nuisance to Internet users, but the court should keep his offense in perspective," Troberman wrote. "What he did was send huge amounts of e-mail over the Internet advertising his product and service, often using forged headers to people who did not want to receive it."

Troberman said Soloway never sent worms or viruses to damage computers, for which others have received less severe sentences.

Essentially, Troberman argues, Soloway has never faced charges in the criminal justice system and has learned his lesson. "His likelihood of recidivism is low," he wrote, saying Soloway "will remain law-abiding."

Before criminal charges were brought against him by the Justice Department in May 2007, Soloway had been found guilty in several civil spam cases, including a judgment Microsoft won against him in 2005 worth more than $7 million. An Internet service provider in Oklahoma was awarded a $10 million judgment that same year.

The federal judge in that case enjoined Soloway from initiating across state lines commercial e-mail messages that contained false or misleading information.

But Soloway disregarded that order, prosecutors say.

"Remarkably, Soloway brazenly defied Judge Thompson's permanent injunction every day thereafter, until the day of his arrest some 15 months later," the prosecution's sentencing memorandum says.

Further, prosecutors say, Soloway evaded collection efforts and publicly boasted about it on an Internet chat room, writing:

"I always win ... regardless of the judgment amount ... losing is not an option, and I never ever, ever have to pay a single cent to anyone."

According to court documents, Soloway began his "broadcast e-mail" business in California when he started up Newport Internet Marketing in 1997. After California passed one of the country's first criminal spam laws in 1999, several police agencies there began investigating Soloway in connection with an array of spamming complaints, including one from the Japanese government. While charges were never filed, police noted that Soloway had "apologized for his e-mail practices" and said "he has learned a lot."

Soloway then moved to Oregon, sending spam from several locations but also, his defense lawyer notes, in 2003 helping form a group for people with mood disorders called Moody Blues Stress Workshop.

In a letter to the court, David Comings, a leading world expert on Tourette's Syndrome who first diagnosed Soloway's condition in 1988, said Soloway's "genetic impulse disorders, Tourette's Syndrome and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder have contributed to his (uninhibited) behavior and affected his judgment."