I don’t think completion of counseling in lieu of jail time is uncommon for first offenders without other problems with the law.
“The pretrial intervention program offered to Ray Rice in the assault case involving his wife was granted in less than 1 percent of all domestic violence assault cases from 2010-13 that were resolved, according to New Jersey Judiciary data obtained Friday by “Outside the Lines.””
“According to New Jersey’s pretrial intervention website, PTI is used in criminal cases that don’t involve “violence” and for “victimless crimes.””
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11514871/judicial-figures-show-ray-rice-deal-offered-rarely
Nope, no violence and no victim here. All on the up and up.