re: #4 Political Atheist

It’s like this. When a Judge sentences a convicted person his guide is not completely unconnected cases or people. He or she goes by precedent, his or her judgement and perhaps those ubiquitous “mandatory” or “guided” sentences. Looking at unconnected cases that have some coincidental features is not justice. It’s crowd pleasing. Oh and judges like every other kind of person can screw up.

In this Alexander case the judge’s hands were tied: 20 years was the mandatory sentence.