It’s very hard to have sympathy for the Rubashkin gang. There were many more crimes that were not prosecuted merely to save the money and time.
That may be, that's the prosecutors mistake.
(1) A person is to be sentenced based on the conviction. Whatever other crimes he may —or may not — have committed are not supposed to be considered.
(2) I acknowledge that I haven’t researched this case thoroughly but it does seem that the requested life sentence is excessive, especially when compared to Madoff’s sentence. Heck, even CONFESSED terrorists aren’t given such stringent sentences.
(3) However, I do disagree with the author’s last paragraph, in which he tries to offset the man’s crime with the “good deeds” he supposedly did. The end does not justify the means. If he gave away all the money, to the best charity in the world, that wouldn’t negate the crime. In fact, giving away “ill gotten gains” is often linked to stealing—as a way of appeasing the criminal’s conscience.
(a)Ordinary people own or receive benefits from banks and loans. Stealing from a bank, no matter how rich the owners are, is still stealing from PEOPLE.
(b)If he had married & murdered an heiress, then gave away all “her” money, he would still be a murderer.
It’s not the “Rubashkin gang”. It’s Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin individually, the father of 10, including an autistic child, who the court is being asked to sentence to jail for THE REST OF HIS LIFE. Read the analysis of the case that I just posted. This is an abuse of the justice system.