] Judge Cassell said that sentencing Mr. Angelos to prison
] until he is 70 years old was "unjust, cruel and even
] irrational," but that the law that forced him to do so
] had not proved to be unconstitutional and thus had to
] stand. The sentence was all the more ironic, he said,
] because only two hours earlier he had been legally able
] to impose a sentence of 22 years on a man convicted of
] aggravated second-degree murder for beating an elderly
] woman to death with a log. That crime, he argued, was far
] more serious.

[ Hear hear. Mandatory minimums are completely atrocious. -k]