LordsFire
Internet Wizard
In a perfect world? I agree with you. But this isn't a perfect world. No jury would convict him, if the prosecutor went for a murder rap with jail time, he would have walked out of the court room a free man. Ordinarily the priors of the victim wouldn't matter, however they tend to leak out regardless to the jury, and the prosecutor would know this. And they can object all they want, but all the defense has to do is make the reference and you can't unring the bell.
The sentence that he got was the best that could be done given the fact pattern in the case, not because it is perfect justice, because I agree with you that in a perfect situation he would be in jail for 2 to 5 years for manslaughter, but because it is the greatest punishment achievable.
I'm disappointed in you. You're asserting as fact a bunch of things that you cannot actually know, and further that they'd try for a murder rap, when manslaughter would be far more appropriate.
If all of your assumptions are accurate, it's not an unreasonable way to try to get some sentence on someone.
If.