“He got probation either AFTER he had served some portion of a jail (or prison) sentence, or as a deferred sentence.”
How do you know? Do you have additional information that can further enlighten us?
“People with misdemeanors are typically assessed a fine or light community service - NOT probation or jail.”
Wrong. Almost every misdemeanor carries probation time, that is essentually how they ensure payment of the fines and performance of community service. The only misdemeanors that I can recall that do not carry probation time are for minor traffic violations.
The bottom line is that the information provided in this article is not sufficient to reach the conclusions that you have presented and in addition, the conclusions you present are lacking knowledge regarding probation and the CJ system.
We agree on this point.