Irregardless of the wisdom or lack there of, of mandatory minimums, the judge should follow the law. If the law is ten years then the sentence should be ten years.
This is just another, albeit small, example of judges violating the law with no consequence.
In response, the court amended its opinion to refute Sensenbrenner's legal arguments, pointing out that a case mentioned in his letter has since been nullified by more recent rulings....