Judge Holds His Ground

This has got to be a tough day for a judge:

"[Judge] LaPera, who will retire at the end of the month, stuck to his sentencing commitment [30 years] even after prosecutor Mitchell Benson, Fox's family and a surviving victim in the case all spoke passionately against it. They said they won't feel safe as long as there's a possibility that Marshall could one day be released."

"LaPera said the brutality of the crime is not what defines first-degree murder. To prove first-degree murder, prosecutors would have had to show that Marshall murdered Fox, 57, while committing a burglary, and LaPera said there wasn't sufficient evidence of that. He said there also wasn't enough evidence to prove that Marshall committed first-degree assault when he hit Melville lawyer Cynthia Kouril with his car, hours before he murdered Fox."

'course the day wasn't exactly a day in the park for the family either.