Reply #8: I'm also wondering...

[regnaD kciN]

...whether, even if an appeal is not practicable, it would be possible to make an issue of the judge's (mis)conduct with some judicial commission. While it's true that a judge has discretion in sentencing, said judge is also supposed to decide impartially, without letting his own (non-judicial) opinions get in the way. It seems all-too-clear that Judge Fernandez based the severity of his sentence largely on his personal dislike of RiM's politics, based on his lecture about "heroes" at Arlington. That should be enough, in itself, to raise serious questions about the judge's conduct in this case.