In comments below, Paul Bird says:
By the way, it wasn't defendants that fired a gun at the mixed-race couple's house, it was the 17-year old who got off with a handslap
Yes, Paul. The handslap was a plea bargain agreed to by the Judge in the case - you know, Judge Pickering. Testimony about the gunshots came out at the trial during the plea session. Despite this, Pickering later claimed to be horrified about the disparate sentencing because he didn't know about his having fired the gunshots - perhaps he slept through that portion of the plea.
So, here's how it worked: Pickering agreed to a plea bargain by the "worst" guy knowing full well that he had fired the gunshots and likely organized the thing. Later he claims he's upset that he gave him a slap on the wrist, and to rectify this he wants to lower the sentence of the defendnant who didn't take the generous plea bargain he himself authorized .
Maybe if we repeat these points 500 times in 500 different ways the factually challenged will begin to get it.
