It works like this: The cop the photo people told didn't laugh at them because he likes them ratting him and doesn't want to discourage that. Then his superiors couldn't admit that any of their flunkies had made a mistake, so they had to back him. Then the prosecuter doesn't want to make his cops look bad, it might bring their judgment into question in other cases. And after all, it's just one six months and he doesn't even have a government job, so what's the problem?
I'd say that question has now been definitively answered. Unless judges suppress this information, I'd question their competence to chew gum!
This is the great Houston parking lot raid on a lesser scale. No one wanted to take the hit for that idiotic stunt either. For the police this is full blown cover your ass time even if a guy does set in the cooler for six months.