21 Defendants Share 309 Years of Sentence for Madrid Bombing

Though sentencing officially amounted to many thousands of years for the murder of 191 people in Madrid, the actual punishment will only be 309 years, or approximately one year and seven months per death victim to be spread among the 21 defendants that were actually found guilty of at least some involvement in the plot.

It seems those refined Spaniards (whom we greatly respect for their intellectual superiority and social panache) have determined that no crime will ever be worth more than 40 years in prison.

And the victim's families? They weren't very happy about the sentences to begin with, even before the most severe sentences were reduced to 40 years. Most of these people are young enough, even those serving the maximum sentence, that they will be able to leave prison as free men having paid their full debt to society according to Spain.

If it were me, and please understand I have not seen any of the evidence, if guilt was sufficiently proven there would have been at least 21 death sentences, preferably by waterboard.

Justice was not done.