WA: "you have gone from a dangerous criminal to an upstanding citizen"

From the Seattle Times:

Reformed robber lauded, given a light sentence

Lydia Chambers had talked to all the others whose opinions mattered: her friends, her husband, her elderly mother, a bevy of lawyers, even God. It seemed they had all forgiven her for what she'd done that afternoon in 1981. There was only one more person she needed to hear from.

Friday morning, she did. In a hushed courtroom, King County Superior Court Judge Greg Canova told Chambers, 60, that he had spent much time looking at her file and contemplating justice. In the end, he decided a light sentence was the right one.

Chambers, a former drug addict who robbed a Renton bank at gunpoint 26 years ago and then fled the state before her sentencing, was given a five- to 20- year sentence that will be suspended if she completes three years of probation, including eight months on home detention, and 300 hours of community service...