It was the prosecutor who decided to drop the charges, not the judge, and it appears that your friend is indeed nothing but a mind-numbed robot who just does what the prosecutor asks, rather than make up his mind on what is a just outcome.
The judge is not, unlike your close friend her, a robot whose job is to find for the prosecution, but to make sure that justice is done after looking at all the facts.
What part of "justice" don't you understand. Justice is a pretty fundamental concept for any society and conservatives can no more survive perpetrating injustice than can liberals. If your ideology requires that you tolerate injustice in the name of some sort of robotic "law is the law" concept then your ideology is headed for disaster at the polls.
That judges are to judge according to circumstances is a part of the common law reformed by equitable principles that is the basis for our own law. Our founding fathers created an independent judiciary exactly because of the tyranny of legislatures. Even in the best of circumstances no law can be written so that it is flawless and foresees all circumstances. That is exactly why we have judges in the first place.
That your friend is not a real judge but an LEO just says it all.
Whatever. His own pct. will decide his fate. He is an elected official.
Lanny Moriarty is scum and deserves every bit of shame and scorn that's coming his way. Punk shot himself in the foot. Big time.