Fellow American animal rights activist, Andrew Stepanian, received a lengthier conviction than Ferdin.
Today, the paper has a related story on the sentencing of Jeff Skilling, who just received 24 years for his role in the Enron debacle: His conviction and lengthy sentence highlight America's growing "criminalisation of agency costs", says Larry Ribstein, a law professor at the University of Illinois.
Lawyers feel that Mr Fastow, who received a six-year sentence last month, was rewarded for co-operating with prosecutors, while Mr Skilling was punished simply for asserting his constitutional right to go to trial.His conviction and lengthy sentence highlight America's growing "criminalisation of agency costs", says Larry Ribstein, a law professor at the University of Illinois.
Mr. Karadzic's presentation, which often included rambling descriptions, was unlikely to have made a great impression on a court in which much of what he described has already been the subject of lengthy trials, convictions and appeals.
For Mr. Lindh, any conviction by a jury could have meant a lengthy sentence of 30 years or more since he was accused of carrying an automatic weapon -- an offense that carries an automatic enhancement under the federal sentencing guidelines.
Deirdre O'Connor, who leads Innocence Matters, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing and overturning wrongful convictions, said people sometimes plead guilty to a crime to avoid the risk of a lengthy sentence.
Holder responded by criticizing the media for citing the lengthy prison sentence that conviction could have earned Swartz, but did not mention that his own prosecutors told the press that precise thing.
Matthew Miller, a Justice Department spokesman, stressed that despite the challenges of the case — including the judge's ruling that much of the evidence in the case was inadmissible because of Mr. Ghailani's treatment during the Bush administration — the end result was a conviction and a lengthy prison sentence.
The numbers are also an indictment of the Supreme Court and Congress, which have lately reacted with frustration to the lengthy delays between convictions and executions by scaling back the traditional review process.
Mr. Orlandi said a major ground for appeal would be that Judge Grabau refused to let him introduce evidence that Mr. Costin had psychiatric troubles and a lengthy record of convictions for petty crimes.
