Originally Posted by Uncle_Ted

This had nothing to do with the courts screwing up. It's the legislators and their knee-jerk supporters who push for these ridiculous minimum sentences because they want to appear to be "tough on crime" and they think judges are too "liberal".

The other safeguard that failed here is the prosecutor. who is supposed to exercise "prosecutorial discretion" to make sure that justice is done, not just blindly follow the literal letter of the law. Of course, that is now the exception rather than the rule.

I feel for the guy too. But the blame lies with the politicians who continue to marginalize the role of the court system, not the courts themselves.