Originally Posted by
Inertianinja
second - the bigger point - i'm sure we can all agree that money will help the VICTIM more than a felony charge. if this guy pleads guilty, even to a lesser criminal charge, the issue of his guilt will be an AUTO-WIN when the victim sues him in civil court. if he keeps working (keeps making millions) then he'll have the income to pay in the lawsuit. this is a way for the criminal and civil justice systems to work together.
If i were the prosecutor, this is how i would think about it. Go for a disposition that brands him a criminal while maximizing the ability for the victim to be made whole in the future.
This would be fine *if* it were based on the wishes of the victim. But in this case the victim and his attorney have clearly gone on record as opposed to the dropping of the felony charge yet the prosecutor still went ahead. If this were based purely on the available evidence and likelihood of conviction I could understand the plea bargain. But the quoted statement of the prosecutor indicates that he based it on the ability of the defendant to pay restitution even though he already knew that this was not of concern to the victim.