> but it's just plain ludicrous to say the judge isn't sentencing based on the merits of the case I think precisely the opposite, and I think we're using diffe

> but it's just plain ludicrous to say the judge isn't sentencing based on the merits of the case I think precisely the opposite, and I think we're using different definitions of the word "sentencing." He committed a crime by the text of the law. Yes, we agree on that. No one is questioning that. But all you've argued so far is that the judge came to the correct verdict. The sentencing, in the other hand, is completely out of proportion to the crime, and is not mandated by law. The judge himself said that he is sentencing him harshly as an example. That means her was motivated to set an example, and is not simply giving him this ludicrous sentence on the merits of the case alone. The comment at top you were responding to was arguing about the injustice of this exact thing.