[LostInBayport]

"mitigating circumstances" --- defined as the liberal habit of providing sob stories for nasty behavior in order to excuse it. Under such a scenario, anyone with a sad tale to tell about how hard their life was gets a Get Out Of Jail Free card. As long as the tale of victimhood meets the criteria of the left.

End result: right and wrong is defined by the left. No thanks.

[shalom aleichem]

Didn’t the Mendez brothers plead for mercy because they were orphans?

[lasurfer]

I totally agree. If you travel down the BS road that Polanski defenders have taken you can make the same case for Hitler himself. Hitler had experienced the horrors of WWI, was gassed with mustard gas, imprisoned and faced a possible death sentence (that was sadly not carried out) for a failed coup attempt in 1923. Hitler’s life was so “sad” as to absolve him of the murder of 6 million Jews and about 50 million Europeans and Americans during WWII.