"he did the world a favor and saved the taxpayers money. He is a hero in my book."
I share your sentiments
"too bad he didn't walk."
I can't agree with you there. We cannot sanction this type of behavior, even if we have sympathy for it. If we didn't sentence cops for actions like this, this type of action would become more frequent. We live by rule of law. It is imperfect, but compared to other real-world systems, it's a good system.
"he will have a rough time in prison considering he is ex law enforcement."
My understanding of prison is that he could choose to be kept in protective custody the whole time (isolation). That eliminates the chance of getting any time off for good behavior to reduce his sentence, but it would keep him safe for the duration of the sentence.
Sure we can. Most would agree the scumbag got what he deserved. This is what jury nullification is for.