That, my freinds, is fucked up...
Couldn't he have demanded a second judge or a retrial?

No, I don't think that it could happen in the UK. For all of it's Daily Mail hideousness, democracy in the UK (by and large) works.

We have the right of appeal and the right to directly petition the Home Secretary (That's right, you can get a message STRAIGHT to his office). Having said that, Gordy B is slowly eroding our "rights" under a blanket of anti-terror legislation so watch this space.
(Audioduck So, can I haz fucking Cheezburgers or not?, Fri 24 Apr 2009, 17:44, 1 reply)

Enough Merka-bashing, really now
I'd like to reiterate this is a very isolated case - his judge had been old and long-standing, sex offenders (even just technically so - public indecency, etc.) are judged quite harshly (who wants to defend someone in the same category as a kiddy-fiddler?) and he had accepted a sort of decision that gives up the right to appeal in exchange for a lighter sentence - usually.

My goal was to point out how exceptionally unlucky this bastard was, not to bash the (otherwise rather decent) Austin judicial system.
(TheManWhoWas SlightlyKnackered, Fri 24 Apr 2009, 17:50, closed)

You're OK, we're not having a go
It wouldn't happen in the UK because judges don't have the powers to impose their own type of sentence. They have a fairly "fixed list" of things they can do. Something we cry about when real sex offenders are only given a light sentence.

The US system has got it's advantages, but also the possibility that this sort of thing happening.

At least your police/legal systems more exciting than ours. Have you seen the car chases on our home-grown Police-Stop-Kill programs??
(Kliper Filllets Getting noticed by twats on the internet since, Mon 27 Apr 2009, 10:40, closed)