>On the other hand, she was given a sentence which was then abrogated by a guy who wanted to make points with the rich and famous. Had it been either one of us who was given the sentence she got, what are the chances we'd have been sent home after only a couple of days?
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>Whether or not the sentence was unfair in the first place, I think the judge was entirely justified in being enraged at what happened.
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>Lots of people get unfair sentences. Some on the short side, some on the long side, but nobody I've ever heard of gets to go home after a couple of days because they're bored.

I can't deny that. In Tennessee, the prosecutor can decide not to prosecute and the perp goes out the door. once the person is indicted, the judge can throw the case out, so there's another exit point. The jury can find a person guilty, and then the judge can overturn it and throw it out, which is another exit point. Then after a person is sentenced to prison, the state gets control of the person. The judge loses all jurisdiction. A person who gets an 8 year sentence here will typically do 1/3 of 1/3 of the time, and the state can decide the prisons are too full and just turn them out, whenever they want. I think why a person is sentenced to 8 years, they should emerge from the labor camp 8 years and 1 day later. But, I'm just a flaming liberal, so what do I know.<g>