Nowadays its not about whose right or wrong, its about who has a better Attorney! As far as precedent, the Court follows "Stare Decisis", or "Let the decision stand". They look at previous case law and base their decision on punishment that was given in the past. However if the State has no precedent or all the circumstances are not the same, yes the Judge can make a varying decision. I'm not sure the State had any exact precedent in this matter.
|