00:00Why did the judge in the state only give him 18 months of probation when he was facing up to
00:07five
00:07years? The judge focused on the fact that one, his wife gave a sympathetic portrayal of him
00:15and that it would not serve him to be sent to jail. The other is that he's a first-time
00:20offender.
00:21He doesn't have a criminal background and he did a plea deal. So when somebody does a plea deal,
00:25they accept responsibility and in exchange, they are usually given a much lighter sentence. So all
00:33of those factors were favorable for him. He's a first-time offender and I think that's an important
00:38point that people make mistakes in life. He doesn't have a pattern of making mistakes. That's a factor
00:45that likely made prosecutors more willing to entertain a plea deal with him. The other is that
00:50his lawyer had signaled that there would be an attack on evidence and other aspects of a trial
00:55and there's no guarantee they would win the trial. You know, for prosecutors, he's a high-profile
00:59figure. Would somebody in the jury find something he says either sympathetic or find a problem in how
01:06the prosecution goes about the case or how law enforcement accumulated evidence? There's all
01:11sorts of possibilities that could give prosecutors pause that cutting a deal rather than going to trial
01:17is the best outcome.
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