Check out the sentencing transcript below. We need more judges like Judge Singhal, who recognizes that not every conviction requires jail or even probation:
It's the judgment the Court that on this particular
case Mr. Cherenfant not be placed in custody, be technically
sentenced to a sentence of time served.
With regard to probation, what I'll do just for record
purposes, I'm going to place him on one day probation with no
special conditions. And I'm going to automatically early
terminate it once I finish what I have to say.
So Mr. Cherenfant, the other people in this courtroom
have heard this before, but you come to me, and I'm in a
position where I've presided over just about 10,000 sentencing
hearings. That's a lot more sentencing hearings than most
people. Between being a lawyer and a judge, I've been in the
criminal court system every day since June 5th, 1990. So this
is actually my 33rd anniversary of being in a criminal court.
And you did something wrong, but I've never had a
defendant appear before me who has had such an exemplary past.
And one thing that criminal lawyers know is that you try to
take the full measure of a man when you sentence them, and you
don't judge them by their worst day. And frankly, that
argument's designed for people that have had a lot of bad days.
And so that's why they talk about the worst day. You don't
even have a lot of bad days. I mean, I'm stretching to find
another bad day. I don't think the traffic ticket's
necessarily a bad day. I mean, it caused you to make positive
changes in your life.
But, you know, you did a lot of things here to try to
help you. You worked with the government in the sense that
this case came before the Court via an information, not an
indictment, and you worked with your lawyer, and you admitted
your guilt. And I know that you and your children and your
wife will be very successful going forward. You just have to
keep doing the things that you've been doing. And, of course,
if you travel to Haiti again, you know what these requirements
are. And I do wish you the best of luck.
Cherenfant Sentencing by David Oscar Markus on Scribd