Another attorney on the matter:
(He goes on to critique the judge's decision, which I haven't defended. Interestingly, his critique, while opining that the reduced sentence was " inappropriate relative to a guilty plea to rape - especially rape of a young child", focuses more on the "the unavoidable impression would result that Richards’ status as an a heir to a multimillion dollar fortune, somehow, someway “bought” his way out of prison time", he concludes that the judge were foolish, imprudent, myopic, etc. It appears that he seems more concerned about how the public will view the outcome than about the justice of the outcome itself.)
(He goes on to critique the judge's decision, which I haven't defended. Interestingly, his critique, while opining that the reduced sentence was " inappropriate relative to a guilty plea to rape - especially rape of a young child", focuses more on the "the unavoidable impression would result that Richards’ status as an a heir to a multimillion dollar fortune, somehow, someway “bought” his way out of prison time", he concludes that the judge were foolish, imprudent, myopic, etc. It appears that he seems more concerned about how the public will view the outcome than about the justice of the outcome itself.)
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