“If the judge is sexist, it will be the mother. If the judge is pragmatic, it will be the father.”
Why do you say that? The father was present at the time the drinking was happening, she was not. He seems a good deal guiltier to me.
Several reasons.
First, if he copped a plea and she took it to trial, he's most likely to be the one that gets cut some slack. The system has a vested interest in discouraging trials. Particularly 2 week long trials.
Second, he's the one most likely to be able to support the family and keep it together while the other parent is 'away'.
Third, his plea was to furnishing alcohol to a minors and corruption of minors. Fairly low level charges. She's looking at time for two counts of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. A quick google search indicates she could get up to 5 years on each of the manslaughter charges (It apparently is a first degree misdemeanor there).