Maybe the Judge believes in Sharia law. They had a story recently about how under Sharia, anybody that commits a criminal offense against another person can make a monetary offer to the victim or the victims family and if the offer is accepted, all charges are dropped.
A poster on a local news forum made a great point about this ruling. Say I wanted to kill my husband, and I could get someone to “accidentally” run him over or such. When sentencing time comes, I claim that the driver of the car has made satisfactory restitution to me and the driver gets nothing more than house arrest.
Beat me.