Actually Wells wasn't "dispassionate" in the Trificant trial. She was very very angry that Traficant pointed out that her husband has business dealings with the chief prosecution witness and gave Traficant a sentence greater than that asked for by the prosecution.
And for all that, Judge Wells sentenced him to five months incarceration — in a halfway house, most likely — and five months electronically monitored house arrest.
A tap on the wrist for committing crimes MUCH WORSE than those supposedly committed by Traficant (for which there was NO physical evidence).
What's going on here is that Judge Wells was following orders from above to crucify Traficant. Meanwhile, she was also protecting the corrupt Ohio political machine by giving an incredibly light sentence to Sabatine. Anyone out there still want to convince me that the Traficant sentence was fair or that his case should not be OVERTURNED on appeal.
Judge Wells is much more CORRUPT than Traficant supposedly is.
And shame on the 100 people of Mahoning County who sent letters of support for this criminal. The subtext of all those letters was, "He's a nice guy, and we don't mind a little corruption in our midst." That is EXACTLY the thinking that got us where we are today.
And the judge has just contributed to the problem, rather than contributing to the solution -- which was her job.
Congressman Billybob