As we have reported, Bourgeois and Bratton had each been allowed to plead guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. Bourgeois and Bratton would almost certainly have fought a murder charge, and the potential life sentence it carried. A murder charge would have brought sworn testimony, and a jury trial. Franklin County Prosecuting Atty. Supershock probation meant that the judge, on her own, could let the killers out of prison any time she wanted, after the year had passed.
All killings are bad.
Even though Bourgeois and Bratton went off to prison knowing that, in a year, they would be able to apply to Judge Miller for supershock probation, there was a built-in safeguard in the law that might have worked to protect the memory of P.J. Bourgeois, to provide him with the chance for a semblance of justice. The judge admitted it to us, the prosecutors admitted it to us, Bourgeois' attorney admitted it to us.